Day 4 - Venice to Desenzano

At long last, our time in Venice was coming to an end.  In the morning, we were packing our things and heading off to other parts of Italy.

We attempted to pack our belongings, and of course, many things didn't fit as well as they had on the way here!  

Ah well! Fortunately, Ramona had us buy the 24hr water taxi passes yesterday, so it would be easy to catch the vaporetta to the train station.

After stopping for coffee and checking our map, we headed for the water taxi stop, just around the corner.  Waiting for just a few, brief minutes, we caught the water taxi over to the train station. Walking inside, an attendant helped us purchase our train tickets to Desenzano, our next stop. With a little time to kill, we stopped for a quick photo and headed in.  Waiting at our platform, we were near a Flying Tiger store, so Mona picked up a few souvenirs.

Our train arrived in plenty of time, making it easy to find our way to our seats and get settled.  

Our coach was less than a third full, so we didn't feel packed in at all.  Once we got underway, we only had 90 minutes to our destination. Last night, Mona looked at lodgings in a lakeside town called Desenzano. Since the vacation season was over, it was easy to find affordable lodging. Desenzano was on a large, freshwater lake, which should prove a nice spot to relax from the hectic, go-go lifestyle of Venice.

Our train passed through Verona on our way.  Does this make me One Gentleman of Verona?  I had to chuckle, especially when the road signs pointed to Padua.  I had to remind myself that all of the locations in Williams Shakespeare's various plays were all real-world locations. Yes, Virginia, there is a Padua...

Our hostess met us at the train station just as we arrived. Last night, Mona had texted back-and-forth with her, arranging our arrival time for a pickup. My wife makes traveling look easy, with all the research and coordination she does! Our hostess had a pretty nice Fiat 500.  I had forgotten how roomy the backseat was - and that cars in Italy are left-hand drive, just like in the US.  After traveling to the UK, right-hand drive was firmly cemented in my mind, for some reason....

The central street was lined with shops, some already closed for the day. As this was a seaside resort town in the fall, many shops were closed for the season or on drastically reduced hours.  

After being introduced to our cozy apartment, we took a quick tour and proceeded to find a place to eat in town. 

Just a few minutes' walk, we found a restaurant for lunch.  Our pizza and pasta lunch cost a little less than it did in Venice, which was nice for my wallet.  We then proceeded to the local tourist information booth, to get our requisite maps and local attraction guides. 

As the afternoon wore on, we headed back towards the apartment, stopping along the marina and a produce market. The main market was already closed, so a bit of pasta and veggies would be dinner. 

Day 3 - Venice

Time to start another Italian day!  I'm still finding myself waking much too late in the morning.  If we were on a set schedule, I'm sure I'd missing much of our itinerary...

We started late in the morning and proceeded to head to the north end of the island again.  Today's travels would include visiting one or more Venetian islands by water taxi.  Some of the Venice islands are renown for their artistry and craftsmanship.  One of them, the island of Murano, is well-known for it's glassblowing craftsmanship.  Another, Burano, is famous for its lace.  Italian lace-making fell out of practice as the making of lace spread across Europe.  It has since returned to Burano, where handmade lace articles can take months - even years - to complete!

We made our way to the Fondamente Nove stop on the north end of the island, the same place we'd visited two days ago.  Many travelers seemed bent on taking the water taxi, and a short line had already formed.  The water taxi would take us to Murano, Torcello, Burano, then back around to Venice.

As it was late morning, the weather was already quite warm - it's been at-or-near 70 the entire time, and today's high was to be 71 with very little clouds.  As the cloud cover evaporated, it was quite warm in the sun, yet 10 degrees cooler in the shade.

The water taxi arrived and the dock filled with passengers.  As we swarmed onto the boat, it was standing room only.  As Murano was the first stop, just about 10 minutes, I assumed most everyone was getting off at this island.  A small number of passengers left, but many dozens more poured in.  We continued to the next stop, the island of Burano.

From the small port, you could quickly tell that Burano was a small, quiet town.  The main street lead directly into town, which quickly terminated on a long thoroughfare, with many, many shops and restaurants.

We made our way down the street, careful to dodge travelers taking pictures of the many shops.  From the end of the street, you could many, many colorful houses.  As the islands are often shrouded in fog in the mornings and evenings, fisherman were quick to paint their houses in bright colors, to stand out.  We snaked in-between the many houses, taking pictures along the colorful canals.

Stopping to pick up a few gifts, we stopped at an outdoor restaurant for lunch.  The waiter recommended sampling the fish, something that hasn't let us down all trip!  Before long, he returned with a sumptuous plate of fried squid, calamari and fish for me, a grilled sea bass and vegetables for Ramona.

Downing another great meal, we set our sights on more picture taking.  Coming around the other side of the long street, we stopped off at a shop for local cookies!

Heading back to the water taxi, a large line of passengers had already built up.  As we stood in line, the queue grew longer and longer, until it stretched all the way back into town.  Once the boat arrived, we filed on and found a spot to - you guessed it - STAND.  We added more passengers at Torcello, but a few got off, giving us a bit of room to spread out.

The taxi wound its way back to Venice, and we eased our way onto the dock.  It was late in the afternoon, just before sunset.  A perfect time to take a gondola ride for two!

We soon found a young gondola driver and were on our way.  Enrico told us about his trade, the time it takes to obtain your gondola license (four years of training and one year of apprenticeship), and the sights along the canal.  He took us through the smaller, interior canals of Venice, and out onto the Grand Canal, the "highway" of Venice.  The quiet lapping of the waves made for a peaceful evening as we meandered along.  It's easy to see why travelers enjoy Venice - the city caters to its travelers and their pursuits.

Biding Enrico farewell, it was well-past sunset.  With dinner in mind, Ramona opted for simple: pasta!  But like every other night, you can't reach your destination without having to stop for gelato!

Since we were close, the Doge's Palace was the last thing to visit on our Venice to-do list!

This is famous for The Bridge of Sighs, an interior tunnel that led convicted criminals to the adjacent prison.  After sentencing, prisoners passed through here and took one, last look at the sky and sea of Venice, before descending into the dark.  Even at night, the lights of Venice shine through the narrow slits of the marbled windows.

Ramona stopped to take a picture here, too!

We had a nice pasta-to-go meal at Happy Pizza the other night, so we found another pasta-to-go joint along our walk home.  The line wasn't very long, so it was a short wait to get our dinner.

Dining back at our apartment, we packed up our belongings and prepared for our next day.  We would be packing to leave Venice tomorrow for our next city!

Day 2 - Venice

Our first full day in Venice was off to a slow start.  The night comes pretty quickly, but it doesn't seem to slow people down.  People continue to move up and down the streets for what seems like all night.  Although I was falling asleep on the couch at 8PM, I wanted to stay up to 10PM, to get adjusted to the local time.  Unfortunately, this had the unattended side effect of making think I needed to be awake.  As such, the pedestrian noises kept me awake  Coupled with the thin curtains letting in more light than I'm used to, I wasn't sure when I fell asleep.

Mona was up, bright and early, and headed out to the grocers to get breakfast.  She found a nice

assortment of fruit, yogurt and a couple breakfast croissants to get our morning going.  To put the European bow on breakfast, we made coffee in the moka cup coffee maker in our apartment.  Though I'm not ashamed to admit it, I watched a YouTube video to make sure I was using it properly, and was really impressed with the results!  For those of you that are aware, my office recently had to end free coffee service.  Many of my colleagues have switched to pour-over pots,  Keurig cups, or whatever was available to fill the void!

With breakfast under wraps, we headed out and turned in the opposite direction we usually went.  This pointed us to the northern part of Venice, away from the central portion of town.  We wound our way through town, this time having to fight the Saturday morning vacationers.  It was much easier after crossing the first few streets, as we were clearly moving away from the touristy area we had been.  

The northern end of town was pretty quiet, much like an idyllic seaside town.  After looking through a few neighborhood and stopping for gelato, we headed back towards St. Mark's square to take in a bit of culture.  We headed to the Museo Correr, a series of galleries that sit adjacent to the square.

Lunch was soon to follow, so we doubled back towards our flat and stopped at a nice restaurant for a quick bit.  Oddly enough, it wasn't enough, so we stopped at another stand (Happy Pizza) to get a box of pasta!

As the evening wore on, Ramona pointed out a nice restaurant on Trip Advisor, Al Conte Pescaor.  The grilled fish is one of it's most-popular dishes, so we had to have some.  Sure enough, it did not disappoint!

Evening comes quickly, and with the sun setting at 6PM, it always feels much, much later than it really is.  Dinner aside, we wandered back home, stopping off for dessert on the way.  Tomorrow, the weather should be even warmer (70 or above!), so we'll try our hand at a few more things that Venice is famous for.