He spoke good English and explained things to us along the way. He said there are hundreds of small canals and small bridges all over Venice. The buildings range from 300-400 years old up to over 1000 years old, though there was a little (very little) ‘new’ construction. He paddled us by Marco Polo’s house, Casanova’s palace (now offices but until recently home to the local newspaper), along the Grand Canal under Rialto Bridge (built in the 1500’s and still one of only two bridges across the Grand Canal), and pointed out the oldest palace on the Grand Canal. If I recall, that building was around 1000 years old. We did hear some music at one point but weren’t directly serenaded…
After the Gondola ride we walked and shopped some more. Venice shopping is quite an experience. The most notable product is the glass made in Murano, an island that’s really a part of the ‘Venice metro area’ so to speak. They make the glass the old fashioned way and you can find all kinds of things ranging in price from $.50 (for a small piece of glass candy) to fairly expensive.
We had decided to walk back to the bus pickup point rather than taking the water taxi. While we were on the Grand Canal we saw some nice restaurants so we walked to the Rialto Bridge and ate at a restaurant nearby, Italian of course. Though the view was wonderful the food left me thinking I’d rather do Mike’s Pizzeria in Fresno. I ordered the Calamari, listed as a dinner entrée, only to find a small portion. I wound up ordering ravioli to finish it off. The ravioli was ok but I didn’t walk away overwhelmed. On the way back to the bus we stopped at an ice cream stand and I got a scoop of Tiramisu ice cream. I really had to since the restaurant (no kidding) didn’t have Tiramisu. Surprise…
We hopped on the bus back to the hotel, dropped off our stuff (cameras, souvenirs, etc.) and met back down in the lobby for ‘after dinner debrief’. We walked down to a shopping and eating square near the hotel, sipped some local wine and enjoyed the rather comfortable evening.
All in all it was a full day of sight seeing, but since that’s all the
time I had, that’s just how it had to be. I’d love to go back again.
There are plenty of things I didn’t get to see and it would be nice to
learn more about the things I did get to see. Also, it would be fun
to see the Murano Glass Factory.
