Italy Trip Day 7

Catch up: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6

May 10 - A day exploring Venice

That morning we were ready for a day filled with the Venice things we wanted to see. We left the apt in the direction of the Rialto market.

We saw the Rialto market food unloaded off boats and an abundance of produce, meats, and seafood as we strolled through the market.

We took in the view and snapped a few pics at the famous Rialto Bridge

Then we hopped on the vaporetto and took it to the San Marco docks area. We walked around looking at all the vendors selling paintings, jewelry, clothes, and all sorts of trinkets.

After consulting our trusty Rick Steves book, we ate lunch at  Bar Verde. They had a great sandwich and panini selection. We sat outside since the weather was so nice and did some people watching.

One thing at Bar Verde that was not so nice was the bathroom. You have to pay for many public bathrooms in Italy so it is always best to use them in restaurants and galleries you are visiting. We saw our share of "interesting" bathrooms while in Italy but this one took the cake. Megan stepped in for a reference point - she is 5'1. I am proud to say we both used this bathroom if for no reason other than to say we did and really took in all aspects of Italy. Big thank you to Insanity and Shawn T. for strong squatting thighs :)

After lunch we visited St Marks Basilica. We had read in the Rick Steves book that if you check a bag you can tickets straight into the Basilica without waiting in line. The line always looked over an hour long so we took advantage of this. While checking our bags we learned that this practice is no longer allowed and the man called the Rick Steves book "rubbish" but he let us skip the link anyhow haha. We were extremely thankful we did not have to wait as it wasn't as impressive as we had imagined and it was very crowded - not worth waiting hours for. Of course no pictures were allowed inside.

After that, we devoured some pastries from the "best" patisserie shop in Venice, Marchini. It wasn't extremely easy to find and the customer service wasn't the best so it is a good thing the food was so yummy.

Next up was the Campanile (bell tower) right next to the Basilica. This one actually had an elevator instead of stairs :)  and the views were amazing. It isn't very expensive (8 euro I think) so make sure to do this if you are in Venice.

Chatting about our boys I'm sure :)

The bells went off while we were up there and they were incredibly loud.

We hopped on a vaporetto to go back to the apt. We stopped by the grocery to purchase items to make salad and we ate that and leftover pizza from our first night in Venice for dinner. Oh and course we bought some cheese!

Since this was our last night in Venice we decided to do the Grand Canal audio tour provided on Rick Steves website. The canal really does look different in the evening and it was nice to ride the long route and listen to Rick tell the interesting facts and history - this is a must do!

Break from our audio tour for some gelato!



On Day 8 we will go from Venice to Rome... stay tuned.