Arrival in Venice

Josh and Charlotte and I took the Eurostar to Venice this morning. We had a little drama when the taxi Josh had ordered didn't show up -- but fortunately, we don't live too far from a cab stand. It was such a pleasure taking a train for a change as opposed to driving. As the driver, it gave Josh particular satisfaction as we sped by the cars sitting on the Autostrada on the Saturday morning of a long holiday weekend. It was a smooth and comfortable journey and we arrived on schedule 4 1/2 hours later.

Upon first sight of Venice as we exited the train station, Charlotte immediately "got it" and thought Venice was "super cool." We hopped on a vaporetto and enjoyed the great scenery along the Grand Canal. Then, we walked over a few canals, with our suitcases before reaching our hotel for the night. This too made Charlotte "get it"about Venice. Our room was certainly large by Venetian standards (recall we were supposed to have Olivia in tow) and while there were beautiful frescoes painting on the ceiling around a Murano glass chandelier, the carpet was worn in places and there were some water stains on one of the walls. It seemed the place could use a little refreshing. That said, the salon just down the hall from our room was a wonderful place to sit and relax and had a balcony that opened up on to a picturesque canal. www.hotelpausania.it

We dropped off our bags and hit the streets. We had plans to meet an old friend of Josh's later for dinner. We enjoyed wandering around the maze that is Venice before arriving in Campo San Polo. Suddenly, from behind, we heard "Josh?" It was his friend Alessandro who had come in from Treviso with his wife and two children. Charlotte and I had fun trying to speak Italian all night. Charlotte was doing a particularly good job in communicating with Alessandro's 13 year old son (who was very cute, indeed).

We found a place to have cichetti and ombre (Venetian dialect meaning snacks and wine), and Josh was able to catch up with his old friend who he hadn't seen in twenty years! Then we continued our stroll and found an amiable place for dinner.

After dinner, we walked over the Rialto Bridge to St. Mark's Square -- Charlotte's first glimpse of the amazing grandeur of the place. Then we completed the loop by circling back around the Accademia and to our hotel in Dorsoduro before saying good-bye to our friends who rushed off to the train station.

We did a lot of walking on our first night, and by the time we reached our room, Josh's knee hurt. Charlotte and I were only complaining about how much our feet hurt.