venice: day one

the train ride from switzerland to italy became an all day adventure. we had to switch trains more than we expected due to train maintenance. when we switched from our scheduled train to the alternate train it felt like a chinese fire drill. we had seat numbers on the original train but it was a free for all on the new train and we rushed to find seats. unfortunately, we lost that race and ended up standing on the train until we made our connection. on the next train we dealt with extreme temperatures. it was so hot nick was begging the train engineers to open the emergency window. after several bottles of water and coke we made it to venice.

as we departed the train station we were greeted by the breeze wafting from the adriatic sea and main canal. from there we walked just a few short blocks to hotel santa lucia, a quaint, family run hotel in an alley off of the only main road in venice. we dropped off our bags and bought passes for the vaporetti, the water bus - the only public transportation in venice. we were excited to be on a boat in the middle of the grand canal, but they packed us so tightly , we felt a little claustrophobic. we traveled to st. mark's square to take in the sights, including all of the stupid tourists who were letting pigeons flock around them and eat out of their hands. we sat down to a light dinner at cafe aurora and enjoyed listening to a nearby orchestra. while enjoying our wine and sandwiches, corinne gasped at her next celebrity sighting: from across the square she saw the roloff family from the show "little people, big world" and immediately ran over and asked for a photograph.

afterwards, we made our first sightseeing stop at the campanile to take in the views from the highest point in venice. at the top of the campanile, we watched as boats overflowing with people began congregating in preparation for a celebration that evening (the feast & regatta of the redeemer)--picture a nightclub in miami on water and you can get a sense for the scene.

since we were up at 5am that morning, we called it an early night and headed back to the hotel relaxed and excited about the next few days.

~anne, chip, nick & corinne