Travel Day Home.....

It's been four weeks since we left the US and today is the day we are heading home. We woke early and had an early breakfast - the hotel was kind enough to open the doors to breakfast half-an-hour early so we could grab a quick bite and some tea/coffee. 

We walked the eight minutes to the public water taxi stand and waited about 30 minutes for the boat to come. We boarded with a bunch of other airport-bound people......

 ...and enjoyed the 45 minutes journey to the airport.

 

The airport- maybe all airports are confusing if it's your first time there - but this one seemed ultra-confusing. We learned - by asking many people and the one not-very-forthcoming airport employee we could find - that one watches a board and eventually it'll say what floor to go to and what line to stand in. We were too early for our line number, so we had to sit around a wait. To add to the confusion - though we figured it our eventually - our Iberia flight was also listed as a Latam flight and American flight.

The second the line number posted, we checked-in our luggage (which took less than five minutes thanks to our business class seats), went through security via the Fast Track (ditto), and went to the Marco Polo Lounge for some coffee and eats. 

After about an hour, the board showed our gate and off we went. We enjoyed business class to Madrid, eating (yes, eating again) - a traditional Spanish salmorejo, baked cod (Brad) and mezzaluna pasta (Suzanne), and tiramisu for dessert. 

 

Brad took this picture of Venice as we flew over.....

When we landed, we had an email saying that the airplane to Miami had changed and therefore our seats were changed. We booked our seats using points/miles from different airlines, so we were re-booked separately. Some begging at the gate got us sitting together once again. 

 

The second flight was uneventful - 9 1/2 hours, so long - but always more enjoyable when in international business class. We ate (well), watched movies, napped.....

 

So that's it ~ another super cool vacation is in the books. Thoughts.......in no particular order:

• Were four weeks too long? Too short? About right?   Yes - about right.  We both felt like we could have headed home after Slovenia, but that was only until we got to The Dolomites - they were much more grand than the Julian Alps, which we did not know when we had the conversation.
• The Croatians are more reserved upon meeting them, and then immediately become super friendly. The Slovenians - Croatia's neighbor to the north - are friendly immediately.
• We were surprised how much pizza was served in all of the restaurants. 
• Someone asked, "What would we do differently?" Great question! Probably go in reverse order - start in The Dolomites and end in Dubrovnik - only because it may have been a bit warmer in The Dolomites and a bit cooler in Croatia.  That does mean that we would have been in Venice during the heat - never a good thing.
  
• Venice was beyond unique and an unexpected great experience. As we said, Venice was never on our radar, however we are thrilled that we went. 
• Flying international business is great for long-haul flights. Not sure how we will ever fly coach again. 😉
• The roads were super small and curvy - that got old. 
• Too many people, but that tends to often be our gripe.
• It was a great trip!
  

Venice ~ Italy Day 9

We slept pretty well and enjoyed a great breakfast. When we checked-in yesterday, Monica was very educational about other ways to get to the airport that aren't as expensive as a private water taxi, and after doing some research and talking with Monica again, we decided that we will take the public water taxi to the airport tomorrow at a cost of 15€ per person. So we did a practice walk to the pick-up area and even purchased our tickets for tomorrow.  It'll be cool to leave in a different mode than how we arrived. 

The weather was about 10 degrees cooler today, so it was lovely to walk around - which is pretty much what we did. Again, lots of photos, 'cuz apparently one cannot take enough photos of canals......

This was a little over an hour before high tide - hard to see, but the stairs are under water. 

We came upon (well, Monica told us about it) a very interesting book shop....

Hi Cat! Meow!

The backdoor opens onto the canal - again - it was not yet high tide - notice the water.

We kept meandering.....still not high tide......

Cool 24-hour clock!

Nope, still not high tide........

We came upon the open-air fish and farmer's market.....

We continued......and yes, FedEx delivers to Venice! (Boat below)

Walking along the outer promenade and seeing a nearby island....

More gondolas.....

We found ourselves in an art area, and there were a couple shops of glass bead makers. Suzanne recently read the (very good) book The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier, so it was fascinating to see a woman working in the same manner as the lead character.  

Onward we walked.....(the roads - really alleyways - are not straight at all - all curve, some dead-end...)

(Had lunch here.)

Saw an ambulance leave a house call......

Eventually the rains did come and we headed back to our hotel room sometime late afternoon. We have no idea how many miles, well, kilometers, we walked, but we have definitely seen Venice by foot (and water).

We are glad that we decided to spend a day-and-a-half in Venice ~ it is certainly a unique place ~ and we really enjoyed our time here. That being said, take away the canals, it is basically a city - graffiti, pigeons, odors, litter. 

Some interesting facts about Venice:

• The sewage is dumped into the canals and the tides take it out to the ocean. (Yuck!) Does it smell? Yes, there is a bit of a sewage smell.
• You are not allowed to ride a bike in Venice. Why? No idea.
• The highest paying job in the city is that of a gondolier. 
• Over 20 million tourists visit Venice each year.
• Venice is build on 10 million underwater logs and is sinking 1 -2 mm per year.
• Venice is made up of 118 islands linked together by 400 bridges over 150 canals.

That, pretty much, was Italy.

Traveling to Venice & More ~ Italy Day 8

We were up early this morning so we could be on the road by 8am, to get to the Venice airport by noon to return our rental car and then go to Venice for 1 1/2 days. Venice was never really on our radar, but sine we are flying out of it, we figured we'd spend a day here and check it out. 

We enjoyed a final breakfast at the B&B in Selva Val Gardena and drove the near 4-hours to the Venice airport. Good thing Brad took a ton of photos of the rental car when we picked it up, as when the guy who took the car back commented on a scratch on the front he said wasn't there at pick-up.  Au contraire our unfriendly car-return-guy, we have proof. Brad showed him the photos, and that was that. 

We decided to take a private water taxi from the airport to Venice. It was not an inexpensive mode of transportation (150€), but we struggled to figure out another way to go that did not take a long time. It was an AMAZING way to see Venice for the first time and we are thrilled that it worked out that way. 

Here are some of the water taxis leaving the airport....

View of the water taxi docks from the water taxi....

It was a pretty rough ride at first - over the open water, but then as we approached Venice, it was a bit calmer. We had no idea of our route, but we ended up coming in via the Grand Canal. It was fascinating to see the water - literally - to the buildings. We just don't get how everything is still standing......

The Rialto Bridge

Eventually we turned onto a smaller canal....

Then an even smaller canal......

....where we were dropped off. The water level was high, so it was a big step off the boat onto dry land. 

The ride was about 30-minutes and as with much on this trip - just beyond words - super, super cool. [As a matter of fact, a gondola ride was the one thing we (really, Suzanne)  wanted to do, but after the private water taxi ride, it was no longer of interest.  The water taxi covered way more area than a 30-minute, 90€ gondola ride every could. Plus, and this is no exaggeration, we never saw one person smiling during a gondola ride - they all seemed sort of bored.]

We found our hotel (another B&B, about a minute walk from our drop-off point) and the front desk woman, Monica, was a plethora of information. She asked us some questions about our interests (walking, no museums,  few people, good food) and gave us ideas of where to go/eat/see. She also warned us about the pick-pockets: here in Venice the pick-pockets are young, attractive women, so unassuming and one doesn't feel threatened when they get close - so that was interesting.  The room is tiny - but for two nights, it'll do.

Then we went out and walked the streets, canals, and bridges of Venice. So, so many photo opportunities....

We had a late lunch and called it a night pretty early. Tomorrow is predicted  to have thunder storms in the afternoon, so we plan to be out on the early side.