Venice - Day 2

We woke up around 8 am both feeling quite rested. We both took showers (mind you the shower is tiny, not much room to move AT ALL.) We bundled up warm and headed down to the breakfast room. The typical fare… bread, hard boiled eggs, ham and cheese, yogurt, cereals, and pastries. We ate until we were full, and had 2 cappuccinos each. Off we went!


Our first item of business was to change our train ticket to an earlier train. Our scheduled train was at 1:30pm, however we decided to leave earlier so we could get back to Rome by 1 pm. We took the boat shuttle to the train station and stood in line for about 15 minutes. We approached the window and said, “Hi, we were wondering if it is possible for us to take an earlier train?” His response, “No.”

Our response, “………”

Claudia then says, “But how do you know if you haven’t seen the ticket yet?”

His response, “No change.”

Claudia’s Mexican started kicking in at this point. She is over the rude Italian attitude.

He then says, “To where, what time.” We responded with Rome, Italy.

With a smug look he said, “It is 20 Euro to change.”

Miss Mexican attitude shoved it right back at him… “Oh… We can pay!” I took out 20 Euros and handed it to him and slid the ticket to us under the window and told us the train #, the time it leaves, and arrives in Rome, and our seat #’s. Nothing else. I don’t recall us saying anything back…

The day was frigid, it was in the 30’s and it was almost 10 am… YIKES! We hopped back on the shuttle boat and headed for a store Claudia wanted to stop into as it was closed the night before. They carried a lot of French items; ecofriendly bags with adorable pictures and drawings, stationary, umbrellas, dolls, purses, and the like. 20 minutes later we each had a bag full of fun items each and headed back to the hotel, about a 2 minute walk to drop them off as it wasn’t on our agenda to carry them around.

Next stop, Piazza San Marco!

We made our way through the maze of tiny streets and rounded the corner to the Piazza and it was packed. People walking around cameras in hand looking all around, young kids playing tag in the wide open area, and many people feeding the hundreds of pigeons around the square… Great people watching!

We took many pictures and headed towards the water and were treated to spectacular views!

We stopped into a coffee shop in the Piazza so we could warm up and I had another coffee, and Claudia a small pot of tea. (Side note: NEVER EVER go to any restaurants or cafes in busy touristy areas.) I opened the menu and gasped – 1 cappuccino was 7 euros and the tea was around 10 euros… Over 20 US dollars! Not only that, our 17 euro bill was handed to us by a waiter who waited on us for about 10 seconds. Claudia handed him a 20 euro bill, he pulled 3 euro change from his pocket and went to hand it to her. She didn’t put her hand out right away so he placed it on the receipt. Then reached right back down, picked up the change, looked at her and said “Thank you madam,” and walked away. We had not planned on tipping as it is not customary; however we absolutely not planned on tipping him due to the outrageous prices! He hovered over us the minute we wanted the bill and was like a leech when we pulled out our money. Not the most pleasant experience.

It was so cold by now, that we headed for a shop to stop in and “browse.” Claudia was looking to purchase a leather bound agenda for her friend and finally found one. We picked it up and headed out once again… passing many of the same stores as the day before. We found the chocolate shop that sold the hot chocolate and ducked in for a cup… YUM!

On we walked some more and our feet were getting a bit tired, and my hands were getting numb from the cold, even with gloves on. It was time to head back to the hotel to warm up prior to venturing out for dinner. We headed to the first floor seating area as the rooms did not get Wi-Fi and I Skyped home to check in with my Mom and Dad. They told me to make sure I had a jacket when I got home late Saturday as it was cold outside… it was about 50 degrees… (I got a chuckle out of that as it was probably down in the 20’s by now outside in Venice!)

(Another side note: Our room was so hot the night before we turned off the heat and cracked the window open to bring the room to a more comfortable temperature. Now we’re back in the room and it is so cold! I turned the heat on so we could get the chill out of the air!)

7:30 pm came upon us quickly and so did the rumble in our tummies… so off we went into the cold night air to find a restaurant. I took us about 2 minutes walking from our hotel and found a tiny little place that looked decent. We went right in and saw a yummy looking pizza on the table of a couple already seated for dinner and we were excited. We started with a carafe of wine and an order of fries. Not sure why, but we always want fries when we go into a restaurant in Europe. I think it is a French fry obsession stemming back to Paris; the fries there are so good!

I ordered a margherita pizza and Claudia ordered the spaghetti carbonara. Both were good, but not blow your mind amazing. We finished our plates and ordered cappuccinos and dessert, tiramisu once again. Pretty good, except this time the coffee was piping hot! (Most every cup of coffee we’ve ordered is not hot. This was piping hot, perfect to warm us up for the cold night air during our short walk back to the hotel. (Not that we needed much as the wine did the job for us already.)

Now back at the hotel, we are in PJ’s sitting in the first floor lounge blogging away and writing out postcards. I like Venice, but I can see why you only need about a day to see it all and fit it all in. There isn’t much more to do here than shop, walk around, take a few pictures, and maybe hit a café or two. We have some damage to do in Rome shopping wise, and are looking forward to a few hot spots in Rome that we thoroughly enjoyed last week. For now, it’s time to call it a night. Good night all, even though it is lunch time in Southern California. Ciao!