Venice, Italy

We went to Venice a couple of weeks ago. There were no direct flights from Nice to Venice, so travelling by plane would have entailed flying from Nice to Paris and then to Venice; all told, about 6 hours. We decided to take the the train, which was an 8-hour trip, with one change in Milan. Unfortunately, we were about 30 minutes late getting into Milan. Fortunately, there was another train to Venice in an hour, so our trip ended up being about 9 hours.

**NOTE: Except for maybe Germany, always allow at least 30 minutes between connecting trains, at least in France and Italy. Probably better to be safe and allow 1 hour, but never 15 minutes, like we did on this trip. Also, make sure you have lots of reading material (which we did).

At the train station you can catch a water-bus to the different sections of the city. You can buy a ticket for one ride, 12 hours, 24 hours or several days. I would suggest at least a 24 hour ticket. They run pretty frequently around Venice and to the islands, it is a good way to get a cheap tour of the city, and you will use it more than you would think.

We went to the Gallerie dell'Accademia di Venezia (pretty good) and to Casa Rezzonico (a palace - very good, as far as the architecture and such). We checked out an exhibit on Leonardo da Vinci at a church. There were about 30 models of his inventions, some of which you could operate. It was pretty interesting. We also saw an exhibit of George Barbier's works. He was an Art Deco illustrator, very talented. The Bacaro Jazz bar was alright. We got its name out of The Lonely Planets Guide for Italy. The Bellinis (peach juice and Prosecco) were tasty and we had a nice conversation with a Canadian couple.


We went for a gondola ride, which was worth the money. It was 80 euros for a 35 minute trip, and the gondolier tells you about Venice. There are several gondola stands throughout the city. Shopping around, it seemed that a ride on the south side of the Grand Canal was 100E, while on the north side of the canal, it was 80E. It might be a bit of money, and a kind of touristy thing to do, but it really was a lot of fun.

We took the water-bus to Murano, which is famous for its glass. Very impressive; if I had unlimited funds, I would buy all of it. We went to one studio and saw a demonstration for 2 euros; these guys are extremely skilled artisans, no doubt about it.


It takes this gentleman 2-3 weeks to make the chandelier below.















Walking around after, there are several studios that appear to have free demonstrations, so you may want to wander a bit before. However, it was worth paying a couple of euros to watch this guy at work (remember that the next time your favorite electrician wants you to pay him or give him beer to watch him work). There are all kinds of studios and shops selling all sorts of glass trinkets, from necklaces and figurines to amazing chandeliers.


We had several nice meals. I thought the best one was the last night, at Enoteca Boldrin, 5550 Salizzada San Canciano in the Cannaregio section of Venice. It was a little hole in the wall. It was sort of like a buffet. They had a set price meal for two courses, and you had several options for each, and you got a big dollop of polenta. It wasn't fancy, but very good, home-style food. For the two of us and a half-litre of house wine, it was 33 euros, definitely a good deal.

Throughout the north side of Venice, there are a bunch of little bar/restaurants that seat maybe 6 or 7 tables for dinner. They seem to do rather inexpensive, yet apparently tasty, meals and they are outside of the touristy area.

I think Venice is better than Paris in some ways. Paris is bigger, and it has better and more museums, but the architecture is all very similar. There is more variety to the architecture in Venice, which I prefer.