Venezia

I have to admit, I was on the fence about a trip to Venice. I know that sounds incredibly spoiled, but it was rooted in a few other people’s opinions of the city. I had heard the food stunk (how can that be possible in Italy?!?), the canals stunk, the buildings were rundown and the city was overrun with tourists.

Okay, so point by point- I had one disappointing plate of pasta, but that was at like 1am. Can you get that great of a meal anywhere at 1am? Maybe twice did I even get a whiff of the canals that was unpleasant and really it just smelled like the bay. Some of the buildings are rundown, but in the most beautiful way. I really thought it just added to the aura of this mysterious and unique city. There were tons of tourists- tons…but what do you expect in such a treasure of a city? I didn’t feel the crowds took away from our experience.

I will say my only complaint is how rude shop owners are there. This was pretty much across the board and I found it disheartening since I’ve always found Italians to be so kind and welcoming. I don’t know, maybe Venetians are rude by nature, but I find it highly unlikely that this isn’t the result of having to deal with tourists nonstop. I can’t imagine the amount of Moreno glass they’ve had to sweep up.

So aside from snippy shop owners…I HEART VENICE!

I really had to tell myself over and over that it was real and I wasn’t riding around some theme park. It is such an incredibly romantic city. We really loved it and had such a great time although we actually did very little. It was just one of those places where you are content to just be.

We caught up with our fellow Georgia girl and celebrated her birthday with lots of yummy Italian vino. We took a few trips up and down the Grand Canal, shopped, toured St. Mark’s Cathedral, went to the top of the Campanile to see Venice from a bird's eye view and were even lucky enough to catch Nora Jones perform live in St. Mark’s square. We didn’t actually attend the concert, but like many others just popped a squat in the square outside the security fence, bought a couple of beers and listened under the moonlight. It was amazing.











We also, of course, did the quintessential gondola ride…





No matter what you hear- Venice is a stunning city and truly one of a kind. Should you ever get the opportunity to visit- you should. Period.

We’re finally in “real time” now that I’m officially caught up on weekend travel updates. This weekend we’re off to visit friends in London. Can’t wait to catch up with them!!

It’s also going to be awesome to finally see more of London than a very expensive airport hotel room.