After a light breakfast at the hotel of fruit and small pastries, we set off to to explore on our second and last day in Venice. It had started raining early in the morning but we refused to let a little rain ruin our day. We each grabbed an umbrella, dressed in layers and headed outside to brave the dreary weather. We soon realized that "a little rain" was an understatement. Venice was flooded! Wooden platforms had been set up all over the city to walk on in an effort to avoid several inches of water that had accumulated. We headed towards St. Mark's Square but quickly realized that was were everyone had gathered. As the rain started to soak through our boots, we formulated a new plan. We headed in the opposite direction of the crowds, away from St. Mark's Basilica and all of the chaos. We darted down side streets and crossed over canals, and ran into the cutest pastry shop that had dozens of colors and flavors of macaroons. We took some to go and continued to explore Venice in the light rain. We came across a large bridge and fell in love with the view from the top. Little gold locks with names written on them covered the sides of the bridge from the people who had visited.
Jet leg eventually caught up with us, and we had to stop back at the hotel for a quick nap! (Napping in Venice?! I know, but we knew we had a long week ahead of us). We got ready for dinner later that night and went to a pizzeria to taste our first bite of pizza in Italy. It was delicious, of course! The crust was a lot thinner than American pizza, but the sauce and the toppings were fresh and delicious. As the four of us shared two pizzas, a boy at the table next to us who looked to be about 6 or 7 years old polished off his own pizza. My sister laughed as we looked on, shocked. She explained to us that it was actually unusual to share pizza in Italy, and many restuarants have 3 or 4 courses for dinner. Each person at the table eats a pasta dish, a salad, a meat or fish dish, then dessert. If only I had that kind of appetite! But we had three more cities and food in each one to explore. After dinner we wandered back accross the city for our first taste of gelato. I had one scoop of terimisu and one scoop of chocolate, both delicious, of course! It tasted similar to ice cream, but smoother, creamier and better! We found our way back to our hotel and set our alarms. Florence in the morning!
Jet leg eventually caught up with us, and we had to stop back at the hotel for a quick nap! (Napping in Venice?! I know, but we knew we had a long week ahead of us). We got ready for dinner later that night and went to a pizzeria to taste our first bite of pizza in Italy. It was delicious, of course! The crust was a lot thinner than American pizza, but the sauce and the toppings were fresh and delicious. As the four of us shared two pizzas, a boy at the table next to us who looked to be about 6 or 7 years old polished off his own pizza. My sister laughed as we looked on, shocked. She explained to us that it was actually unusual to share pizza in Italy, and many restuarants have 3 or 4 courses for dinner. Each person at the table eats a pasta dish, a salad, a meat or fish dish, then dessert. If only I had that kind of appetite! But we had three more cities and food in each one to explore. After dinner we wandered back accross the city for our first taste of gelato. I had one scoop of terimisu and one scoop of chocolate, both delicious, of course! It tasted similar to ice cream, but smoother, creamier and better! We found our way back to our hotel and set our alarms. Florence in the morning!