14 July

14 July 

We took a train to Venice and are staying at Hotel Arlecchino, in the Santa Croce sestiere (neighborhood).  It is on one of the smaller canals.  Once we got settled, our first activity was to take a vaporetto (small ferry that is like a bus to the Venetians) down the Grand Canal to get a look at Venice.  We got off at Piazzale San Marco, the biggest square in Venice, and gawked at the many winged lions (symbol of Saint Mark/San Marco) and the really crazy number of different colored marble columns of the Doge’s Palace.  We had a tip to get pasta from this little hole-in-the-wall take-out place near San Marco, called Alfredino’s, and found it without too much trouble. Fantastic!  We got these big cardboard boxes full of fresh pasta and delicious sauces. Coen went with Special #2, alfredo sauce with ham, I got the pesto (which was the best!), Lane something pomodoro, and they even had Finn’s favorite—olive oil and parmesan.

Heading back to the hotel, we basically got lost and wandered the streets of Venice.  It was one of everybody’s favorite activities.  It’s hard to describe, but every street was just interesting and different, and every so often you cross a bridge over a little canal, old buildings and interesting doors, sometimes you burst out onto a busier street with shops and restaurants, then discover a strange archway or campo, sometimes just a dead end onto a canal.  Venice is really kind of magical.