Europe 2014 - Venice, Italy

***Blog Reader Alert!***
I need to add a disclaimer to this blog post.
I am completely incapable of controlling the amount of photos that will be posted about our time in Venice.
Proceed with caution...and a few minutes of extra time on your hands!

The next morning we left Germany and traveled towards Italy.
We stopped in Innsbruck, Austria for a train change.
Not much time there so we just hung out in the station until it was time to leave and used some free wi-fi in McDonald's.
I think that in my post about London, I said "I promise" that we never ate there again.
Well...I guess I lied because I had forgotten we got fries and a drink in an Austrian McDonald's.

Yep...they sell beer there!

Our room for the next two nights was in a town called Padua outside of Venice.

So we stopped in Padua for the night and after being greeted by Roberto, our airbnb host, we walked down the street to get some food for the evening.
At the grocery store we couldn't resist this beautiful watermelon!
It was as good as it looks!!

We also stopped and bought a pizza to take home.
There was a huge selection to choose from...
(Really really not sure how the Tom and Jerry and Titty?? theme fit the place)
I wish I had gotten a clearer picture of the menu because some of the pizzas had horse meat as a topping.
Sounded too weird to me at the time, but in retrospect, I wish I had tried it!

We ended up with this beautiful creation and it was also just as good as it looks.
Pizza in Italy has no rival!

The next morning we were up early and off on a quick train ride to Venice.
Of all the places that we visited, this was probably the one that made me stand there with my mouth hanging open.
When we walked outside the train station and saw the Grand Canal, I just couldn't believe I was really there!

It was a bright and hot day with a mass of humanity.
But it was Venice and it was beautiful and old and colorful and...Venice!

You absolutely need these street signs that are on buildings and the ground.

"Get lost in Venice"

Okay...we will...and we did!

We were careful during our whole trip to not spend too much money on food.

It's nice to try a little of each country's "popular" cuisine, but for the most part, we had a nice meal here and there...and then bought sandwiches and fruit at little mini marts.

But gelato...

Oh gelato!

You were a necessity anytime we could have you!

I had to take this picture for my little choc-o-holic back home named Jenelle!

It was obviously a fresh batch and if I could have virtually bought her a scoop I would have!

 We had lemon!

After our gelato, we continued to make our way to two attractions we wanted to be certain to see...
The Rialto Bridge and the Piazza San Marco.
Tourist traps?
Yep!
Something you have to do?
Yep!

Hannah was excellent at navigating us around the city.
It literally looks the same at nearly every turn.
The same...and still beautiful!

But we finally found the Rialto Bridge!

Prior to arriving at the bridge, we were around a lot of people, but it was relatively easy to move about.
Now...it was seriously close contact!
Every narrow street had a mass of humans in addition to a whole lot of crap for sale!

The closer we got to the Piazza San Marco, the more people there were!
Go figure!
Everyone wanted to see the same famous landmarks!
Well...it was worth it anyway.

 photo by Hannah

Oh!  Nice to see you "scaffolding!"

Not!

 photo by Hannah

 photo by Hannah

photo by Hannah

After walking around the Piazza, we walked to the water and saw all the gondola's.
Just beautiful!

This picture was one of my favorite that Hannah took.

I love the composition with the long landscape and the big sky!

photo by Hannah

After we had seen enough, we head back towards the direction we came.
This is where Hannah's navigational skills and a map came in handy!
Everything looked the same to me!

We saw this amazing display of seafood at one restaurant we passed.
There are always people outside trying to get you to come in and eat.

This guy was no exception.
He was super friendly and even let us try something called sea asparagus - which is AWESOME!
I would have loved to have eaten there, but it would have been most of our trip budget just judging by the menu and the look of the place.
Bye fish!

So as we made our way back towards the train station, we remember an area where we wanted to eat that was near the Rialto Bridge.
Hot, tired, thirsty and hungry would describe our situation pretty well.
No one had to work too hard to persuade us to sit down at a table for lunch.

(I didn't eat that whole thing myself...but I probably could have!)

A pizza lunch with my girl next to the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy.
Can I do it again please?

And then once again it was time to move on!

Next Stop:  La Spezia and Cinque Terre, Italy