Excerpt from part I:

One step out of the train station and you are bombarded by first the amount of tourists, and second, the beauty.  Yes, the canals of Venice are really that amazing.  Who would have known?  The first question I was hit with (while staring at a bridge that goes over the Grand Canal) was how are we going to get to our hotel with our 130lb of luggage?  There is no way I was going to spend the next couple hours trying to navigate Venice after failing in both Rome and Florence.  Luckily we found a water taxi and he took us to our front (or is it back door) of our hotel, San Cassiano, located on the Grand Canal.

The San Cassiano did us well, hooking us up with a Grand Canal view suite complete with sitting area, day bed, and chandelier.  After a few moments taking it all in from our windows above the water we headed out, toward the Rialto Bridge.  I don’t believe I have ever traveled 100 feet and been lost.  I felt lost around every corner in Venice it was impressive to say the least.  Armed with 4 maps and an iPhone with GPS was no help.  Eventually we found enough signs pointing to The Rialto to get us to the bridge.  Souvenirs, tourists, gelato, tourists, more gelato, and even more tourists sums up this bridge over the Grand Canal, lined with restaurants, shopping, and gondola guys wanting to take you out for a spin through the canals.  Cross the bridge and in no time you will find yourself headed to San Marco Piazza, the center of Venice with restaurants, drinking, live music, and many pigeons waiting to be fed and fly up into your arms and onto your shoulders.  We drink Prosecco and listen to music than walk around and find Harry’s bar, the creator of the Bellini, but I am not allowed in because I am wearing shorts so we have a Spritz at a bar that contains awful tasting liquor named Aperol and then we are back near the Rialto where we have another sub-par dinner of pasta and pizza.

Excerpt from part II:

With all 4 maps out we worked our way back to our hotel from the Rialto area.  Two blocks still on the map and then all of a sudden you are doing circles in the street.  Lost.  Keep walking and eventually you find your way, usually with little help from your accompanying maps. 

The night desk manager, who looked like he was about to kill himself and was aptly nicknamed Mr. Personality, was also the bartender.  So the several requests for more Prosecco brought many deep sighs and grunting as he got out of his chair to go to the bar area so we could enjoy a drink on the terrace overlooking the Canal as the Venice night passed us by.

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