Gondolas and hot chocolate

11/9/11

I can't think of a better way to end our trip to Europe than a night in Venice. I wish we could stay longer but we definitely made the most of our evening here. After our last post, we walked to St. Mark's square and visited the bascillica. It was very different from St. Peter's. The design was more eastern European with large lanterns and mosaics. Still plenty of marble and frescos but you could definitely appreciate the eastern European and Byzantine influences.

The large square was lively and charming. It is enclosed with walls of shops, restaurants, and cafes. We went to the famous Florian for hot chocolate but decided we'd rather not spend so long drinking their hot chocolate (which happened to be 13 euros, I'm sure it was worth it). Instead, we went to another cafe and found hot chocolate to go. We listened to the bell towers and the classical music being played in the square before walking to the Rialto bridge.

On the way back we window shopped for murano glass, Burano lace, and high fashion...the closer you get to Milan the more beautiful the clothes. I love it! Then, the best part, we found a very nice gondolier who offererd us the lower price up front. It was a highlight of the trip. We took the ride just before 7pm (when the prices soar) so it was dark, the moon was full and the moonlight shimmered against the dark water. The gondolier took us under the bridge of sighs that is currently under construction, by several churches, and several palaces. He narrated our ride. It was a close favorite of mine, neck and neck with the Eiffel Tower. We almost didn't take it but Justin talked us into it and I am so glad he did.

For dinner we went to a hotel that is ranked very high on trip advisor and also recommended by our hotel. It was delicious. The first pasta was a spaghetti with crab, an odd combo but it worked very well and was the tastiest part of the mean. Justin had tuna and I had the sea bass. Venice offers a lot of local fish and is known for it's sparkling wine, prosecco, which we learned about at our wine tasting :) we were able to put our new skills to work. We finished with an apple tart that had a buttery rum taste with raisins and dates (yummy) and cappuccino.

Again, I can't think of a better way to end the trip. We did so much and enjoyed every minute of it. Well worth the planning stress and money very well spent. We're looking forward to coming home, and hopefully we can make good use of our time in Paris tomorrow. Arrivederci you beautiful sinking island!