Today was our full day in Venice, so we bought an all day ticket so that we could take the waterbus wherever we wanted. Since we wandered around a bit the day before, this time we started off by taking the boat around to San Marco. This area was so much more touristy than where we were the day before, which should have been a hint that we were going to be overcharged for lunch (note: when the sandwich in the window says $4... that means $10 if you want to sit down and eat it). At least we picked a cute restaurant right on the canal. After lunch we just wandered around the streets. Nick and I had both had a plan to buy paintings, so when we came across a guy that we liked, we took awhile to chat with him and pick out paintings (and by we, I mean I took forever trying to decided on which one I wanted.... don’t worry, I finally just settled on buying two :)
San Marcos
Look at that smile! :)
As it got closer to dinner, we had a little time to kill and weren’t really sure what to do. We decided to go find the water fountain we ran into yesterday to fill up our water bottles, but then something else happened!
We had wandered off the main path and ran into a little square. Not really sure where we were, we decided to just have a seat on the curb. This was where we met Shaun and Lari, our new friends from Hawaii! We sat and chatted with them for about an hour and exchanged stories and advice for our trips. They had been sitting there because they had run into a little place that sold $1 take away champagne. So Lari took us there and bought us each a cup of Prosseco. So our mid-evening break consisted of getting lost, meeting a really fun couple and drinking champagne with them on the sidewalk of some unknown street in the middle of Venice :). Not too shabby.
After we went our separate ways, Nick and I were on a hunt to find a place for dinner (inspired by our new friends to find somewhere that wasn’t a tourist trap.... although we had all acknowledged that it is not an easy thing to find in Italy... they are very tricky). We had a list of recommended restaurants from Lucia (thank you daddy :). It was our mission to find one of those restaurants... or at least look until Nick was so hungry he couldn’t look anymore.
(Sidenote: Jen is getting very patient with me when I’m hungry....She’s a keeper too ;)
Taking the advice of the Hawaiians, we got completely lost, and managed to randomly run into one of the restaurants on the list. (I would have never known this place was a restaurant at first glance.) But thank goodness we found it! It. Was. DELICIOUS! Best meal by FAR! and on the cheaper end of what we have been spending on meals (of course...)
To end the night, Nick took me on a gondola ride :)
Apparently singing gondoliers is actually a Vegas thing, but our guy did his best to accommodate. We paddled through the canals and took in the beautifully lit city, listening to Italian renditions of Spice girls, Shaggy, and our new favorite song “takata” (we watched the music video of this song at the beginning of our trip and laughed thinking it was a complete joke... this song has been following us ever since.... and now we love it :).
For your reference.... and thorough enjoyment :)
So much for a romantic gondola ride. We spent pretty much the entire time laughing and singing along with our gondolier. We decided that Nick would be awesome at that job! Our guy even commented on Nick being a good singer... although when he said “you’re good”, we both knew he was really commenting on my beautiful Shakira voice :).
Perfect day in Venice. Check!
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