Departure/Venice, Days 1 and 2

Tuesday, October 18, 2005 Departure
We had a beautiful flight to Chicago, two seats on the side with beautiful views. Bill read The Oregonian and I wrote in my journal.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005 Europe!!
Our flight from Chicago to Brussels was calm and pleasant. We flew Brussels to Venice via Sabena Brussels, loving our views of the pure pristine white peaks and scapes of the Alps.

We arrived in Venice about 11 a.m. and noticed the polizia standing near the luggage carousels. We continued to notice that they were very visible almost everywhere we went. Their attire is very distinctive. They wear white belts with white diagonal belts over the shoulder that cross down to the other side and that articulate with the waist belts; white leather holsters, and other little white leather cases and accessories.

We boarded the Alilaguna speedboat to Venice and traveled through the islands, through the mist, thrilled with our first views of the ancient pastel edifices. We debarked at the Zattere boat stop in the Dorsoduro.

Our locanda (inn) on Fondamente de Romite was a pretty walk over some arched bridges and small canals. [Fondamente = small canal.] Our room was on the ground floor next to the lobby. The floor here and in most of the places we stayed was of beautiful Italian marble tiles, as was the bathroom. We had two windows facing out onto the canal. The room was immaculate, the bed great, the shower hot and strong—our desires answered.

We went off to explore. We stopped at the top of the Accademia Bridge, 5 minutes from our locanda, to enjoy the incredibly picturesque views of the Grand Canal from both sides. Singles and couples all stopped to ooh and ah along the rails. We started to let the lagoon air and the ambience seep in and relax us.

We explored the other side of the bridge, the Campo San Stefano area, tickled and teased by the sites and myself by some window displays. We topped off the long traveling day with some fine pizza!

No related posts.