First stop: Venice

Note: I wrote this, but didn't post it, while we were on our trip to Italy in October 2013. Better late than never!

We returned to Italy again this year (although didn't write about our trip last year to Puglia, Sorrento, Pompeii, and Rome, which was amazing), starting out in magical Venice. The flight was smooth and pretty painless, a huge surprise since I have a herniated disk and have been barely able to move for the past week. That lumbar pillow I bought at Brookstone was a gift from God, or maybe my back is just getting better (I'm hoping for the latter). Anyway, from the Marco Polo Airport we took a bus to Piazzale Roma and then the vaporetto to Rialto;

then followed detailed and excellent instructions to the flat we rented that is about half-way between Rialto and San Marco.

Today was an absolutely beautiful day and we enjoyed a lunch of pizza (Lisa) and pasta (Garrett) and exploring our new neighborhood. Last time we were in Venice we stayed in Dorsoduro, and now we know why people love that neighborhood so much. In contrast to peaceful Dorsoduro, San Marco teems with crowds of tourists. We did, however, enjoy the dueling musical groups playing at three different restaurants on San Marco Square.

Having not slept much in the past 24 hours, we rested in the afternoon, then set out again to find a place for dinner. I found a place on TripAdvisor that sounded perfect, but found it next to impossible to navigate to any specific location in Venice. GoogleMaps was absolutely no help whatsoever. So we just wandered until we found something that looked good... and it was! Tourist menu (three courses) only 15 euros, a bottle of the house wine (always good), and a couple of extra treats on the house (Campari and soda to start the meal, Limoncello to end it). Ahh...