Academia

Ciao Again!

Jimmy arrived in Venice on March 13 to a beautiful day of sunshine on the Grand Canal. Our water taxi arrived at the Academia Bridge and we made our way to the Hotel Galleria and our room with a view of the Canal.

The Academia Bridge

Canal from the Hotel Galleria

Another View from the Galleria

Hotel Galleria

Venice is amazing! I was immediately struck by the play of the sky on the water, and the water on the buildings. Everywhere the light is flickering and things look so sparkling and colorful and beautiful. I can understand the Venetian School of Painting and their love of bright colors even better than I could before. Here are two of my favorites.

Giorgione's The Tempest

Giorgione's Pastoral Concert

Of course these don't show up quite so brightly as the canals of Venice did to my wondering eyes but they might give you some idea of what I mean.

The Hotel Galleria was fabulous, and I was so tickled that on my first trip to Italy I had a room with a view. It might not have been of the Arno, but the Grand Canal was good enough for me.

Here are some of the sights we saw and that charmed my fancy.

Full View of the Academia Bridge

Motorboat on the Grand Canal Near Academia

Gondola on the Grand Canal

Traffic on the Grand Canal

I have to take a minute to plug this hotel like I did on Trip Advisor.  :) It was the Hotel Galleria and it was fabulous. We had a terrific view of the Grand Canal and the Academia Bridge. The room was small but comfortable. Our bed was by the window and when it was open you could hear the waters lapping by. There were Murano Glass chandeliers and hardwood floors.

The proprietors, Mr. Luciano and Mr. Stefano, were so cool, especially Mr. Luciano. He immediately recommended a great cicchetti restaurant for us to try, gave us terrific directions, then put on his stylish scarf and breezed away. He ran into us trying to locate the "second bridge" and he pointed us right into the shop. Here are some shots of the bridges and streets on the way to our quick bite of lunch.

Small Bridge Near Academia

Boat on Small Canal

Here is Jimmy next to the canal looking as sharp as any Italian gent.

Jimmy Smoking on the Canal

Canal Near Lunch

We had cicchetti for lunch on this canal you see above. For those of you unfamiliar with cicchetti, they are like Italian tapas. Small snacks. Usually they are little pieces of baguette with fish, cured meat, egg, roasted vegetables or some combination thereof, but they also include grilled vegetables, olives, etc. Usually at the same restaurants you can buy sandwiches full of ham or salami and cheese. I preferred the fishy meaty snacks, Jimmy the sandwiches. Here is a picture.

Cicchetti

After lunch we went back to the Academia Bridge, crossed it, and explored the general area near the bridge. I would love to have been able to to Venice as a child because I always loved exploring, and Venice has the nooks and corners and alleys and little bridges that would delight anyone, but especially a child who loved to explore.

Gondolas on the Grand Canal

A Small Bridge

Red Building Near Academia

Putti

Another Small Bridge

Tower in the Sunset

Steps to Canal

Ponte Giustinian

Little Bridges

Bridges Everywhere

Parked Boats

Boat Parking Only

We had so much fun, running up and down bridges, filing down long snakey alleys, winding up at dead ends where nobody but someone in a boat could go, and having to retrace our steps. If we had had time, I could have explored every little inch of Venice like that for weeks on end.

Cedars

Narrow Alley

Another Narrow Alley

Water Alley

Rhinoceros!

Dead End

Coke Display Outside Quick Stop

Dark Alley 

Gondola in the Sunset

 I was fascinated by things like old windows and doors.

We explored all the nooks and crannies around Academia until it started to get dark, and then we went back to rest up for dinner. After taking a short nap (remember, we were up almost all night on the train) we asked Mr. Luciano where to have a delicious seafood meal, and struck out in search of it.

He recommended place not far off, as he said, and owned by a friend of his. He told us it was the best seafood in town, and to make sure to tell the proprietor that he had sent us.

Well, "nearby and easy to find" to someone who knows the area, and to us, who were getting directions like, "turn at the second bridge but don't cross it" mixed up, it took a bit longer to find. We had to stop many Venetians along the way. Everyone would say, "It's right around the corner," and everyone would also say, "They have wonderful seafood." When we were just about to give up and walk in search or somewhere else, we found it!

I wish I had taken pictures but by this point we were so hungry we were just ready to grub. First off, I must set the scene:

We walked into a small pleasant-looking restaurant, and a man walked over and greeted us---obviously the owner. When we told him we were happy to find his restaurant and that Mr. Luciano from the Hotel Galleria had recommended it to us, he smiled broadly and welcomed us to a table. I had decided before-hand that this night we would splurge. It would be our one night of a full course Venetian seafood meal with all the trimmings.

We ordered spider crab for an appetizer, which was a white lump crab meat served cold. Then we ordered a seafood risotto for our pasta course. Fabulous! We then ordered the chef's special grilled fish selection, which happened to be some kind of sea bass. The owner nodded with approval as we ordered, and kept insisting we order some wine, which we declined. We were too hungry and thirsty to worry about wine.

When the fish and trimmings came out, he brought out two glasses of a piquant white wine on the house, insisting that one had to have good white wine with fish. It was fabulous---both the wine and the fish! When we had finished with our main course, he asked us if we would like dessert and in the spirit of splurging and Italy we ordered, what else, but tiramisu. After the dessert our host brought us two little glasses filled with a clear liquid and peeled green grapes, along with a tiny spoon. It was grapes soaked in what could only have been grappa. A digestif on the house to finish our delicious meal.

We left amidst many Grazis and the Pregos, and  he kissed me on both cheeks and wished us well. It was a wonderful meal, and the hospitality was wonderful as well. We went back to our room with the view to sleep off the risotto and fish and to start another day in wonder Venezia, Italia.

Ciao for now!

To and From Venezia-Or 15 Hours on Rail Jet

Ciao!

It's been a long time since my last blog entry. The reason for this is a badly broken wrist, poorly mended by a Venetian hospital, requiring Hungarian orthopaedic surgery, a prosthetic joint addition, and a good deal of physical therapy. More on that later. I think it's finally time for me to write about Jimmy's and my trip to Venice in early March.

The Budapest to Venice line is a 15 hour one, running through and requiring a stop in, Vienna. Good old Wien Westbahnhof. Pretty funny to think we could have flown across the Atlantic in half the time it took us to get to Venice, but at least the tickets were relatively cheap. The trip was one of crowded train compartments, little sleep, stiff backs, and Jimmy making friends with every Austrian, German, Swiss and God-knows-who else on the train.

The train left Budapest in the afternoon and were quite excited. We were loaded up with sandwiches and pretzels and chocolate bars, as well as Ipods, Faulkner novels, magazines---pretty much everything we thought we would need to be comfortable and enjoy our long ride. Oh we of little patience! By the time we were in Vienna three hours later we were already whining about being ready to get off the train! Some world travellers we are, huh?

Here you can see some of our rather compactly packed luggage (compactly and economically packed considering what we looked like coming home from Romania yesterday, but that's another post).

Our Junk

And here is my trusty Hobo bag that has travelled the world with me, literally. It's about to go to Asia soon.

Well Travelled Hobo

We had a quick meal in the station in Vienna. Jimmy, as I had predicted, ate at Schnitzel Land, I, at Mr. Lee's Noodles. I haven't really had anything that could be called "Chinese food" since I left the States, which is my excuse, as if you need one for figuring out what to eat in an airport or train station. After a hurried meal we were on our way again, sharing our compartment with a young Italian named Christian. Jimmy chatted him up, then drank some Gosser, then made friends with an Austrian man at the layover in Salzburg (which seemed interminable), drank some more Gosser, and watched some episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm on the computer. I drank orange juice and grumpily listened to Jimmy enjoying his new found companions. Sometime in the wee hours we fell asleep, and in what seemed like the even wee-er hours we awoke to watch snow covered mountains drift by in the dark.

The man who ran the dining car was a really cool Austrian man who sold Jimmy Gossers and me orange juice, all through the night, and who then sold us our morning espressos. He helped make the trip tolerable with his bright smile and cheerful attitude. Makes you feel kind of bad about whining about one 15 hour trip to Venice when this guy makes the Vienna to Venice run daily. His espresso helped us brave the bright morning light after about two hours of sleep, and I could actually start to feel excited that we were approaching that low-lying and waterlogged area where the islands that are Venice occupy.

This is Jimmy before coffee.

A Very Sleepy Jimmy

This is how bright the morning sun hit us. Yikes!

Early Morning Train Tracks Somewhere in Italy

In approaching Venice we came to an area that looked like nothing but water dotted with tiny spots of trees here or there. It made me recall crossing the sound or crossing Lake Mattamaskeet, only on a much larger scale.

Approaching Venice

The Land of Water

I must admit that it was pretty exciting. Suddenly before we knew it we were pulling into San Lucia. It is exciting to find yourself somewhere new, and to take in the sights and sounds that greet you upon arrival. I always enjoy even the mundane sights such as the vending machines, or the signage in airports and train stations.

First Sight Upon Arrival

Self Bar!

In a few minutes we had our first glimpse of the outside of San Lucia and the Grand Canal. These photos aren't great, but I love them because they are my first photos of the "streets" of Venice.

Our First Glimpse of the Grand Canal

The Grand Canal Outside San Lucia

Outside San Lucia

From here we hopped on a water taxi and made the long trek down to the Academia Bridge and to our hotel. It was a beautiful ride full of fascinating sights. Keep reading to see more.

Ciao!