OUR FIRST DAY IN VENICE

Our last breakfast in our hotel, grabbed our bags, and taxed over to the train station for an 8:50 departure.

 Notice that big bag Miss Backus came to Europe with.  I tried to hold back my snickers when I saw it but in her defense she didn't have much time to back and decided to just throw a lot in a suitcase and not have to make a lot of decisions about what to take.    Besides, she's young and strong and can manage a heavy bag.  

At the train station in plenty of time.  No steps to deal with so easy departure.  Just have to get that bag on the train.

Our first view of Venice!

Grabed a water taxi so we didn't have to deal with "the bag".  

Our first trip down the Grand Canal!

Arrived at the hotel - the Bauer.

  Our suite.

 The lobby.

  It was lunch time and we headed out to a restaurant recommended by the Concierge.

Out the door and a short walk and we caught our first glimpse of St. Mark's square.  

 Around the corner , well maybe a few corners and a wron turn or two but at last we found it.  

 Needless to say lots of fresh fish in Venice.

We had a lovely lunch - complimentary prosecco, a little risotto with black ink and cuddle fish.  Good.  

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around and just enjoying this beautiful city made up of 450 islands all linked together by bridges.  Like Amsterdam a series of canals but a very different feel.  Maybe because there are no cars and no bicycles - only foot traffic and boats.

We just had to purchase some new hats!

We went back through St Marks,,

  Glanced at the gondola's outside our hotel

 and ran to our room to get a few things and head out to our first tour which started at 5:30.

We met 10 other people and our guide and proceeded to some bacaro (wine bars) to sample some 

different  wines and taste some typical cicchetti ( snacks).  This is a typical activity of the Venetians.  They usually eat late and so around 6:00 or so they drop in to the Bacaro and have a glass of wine and some snacks.  

The famous Riato Bridge which we had to cross to meet with our tour.  Interesting to get around in Venice.  The streets are small and not all of them are on the map.  We had to make a phone call just to make sure we were in the right area - and we were.

We eventually met with  our group - a couple of couples from England, three girls from Michigan, a single man from Munich, and besides Michele and myself our lovely tour guide Iole.  Our first stop was to the oldest Bacaro in Venice - Canina Do Moir.   The bacaro dates back to 1462. It was our first stop because they do  not have a bathroom.  Because of its historical significance they do not have to have a bathroom - no place to put it.  Most of these places are small, some have a few tables, some maybe one large table, sometimes there are outside tables and if not when its crowded people just stand outside.  

Iole giving us a little run down on what to expect and the history behind the Bacaro.

We enjoyed a glass of prosecco here but it was not bubbly - very nice actually and a small open faced sandwich which had a whipped cod on top. 

Here's Iole doing some explaing about the next Bacaro.  it is told that Casanova used to drink here and probably dates back to the 1500's.  

 Cantina Do Spafde - the two swords.  They had some delicious fried sandwiches and as I recall a very nice red wine.

  Just very interesting and neat places.  Each with their own history. 

Some of our group.  

These two were from England and only had eyes for each other.  We did hear them say they were staying in Venice until Saturday and didn't like it.  The next day we ran into the other couple from England and they said they had seen them with their suitcase crossing St. Marks square.  It twas obvious to me that they were  not interested in sight seeing.  Of course I got this darling picture of them and the rest of the group pictures are dark and blurry.  Anyway, it was a very congenial group.  It was a fun way to start our stay in Venice.  Bacaros are located all over the city.  Great to know about.  We used them frequently to stave off hunger pains before dinner.  They all have a nice assortment of wines, not just the ones we were served.  

I believe this was a little dessert wine - a little bit sweeter.  Iola told us a little story about the cookies we were given to dunk into the wine.  The cookies are very hard and of course they soften in the wine.  They originated or were baked by the women on the island of Burano.  The children would dunk the cookies into milk which certainly seems like a good idea.  The husbands however,  mostly fishermen would not be taking milk on their boats.  It could spoil you know.  So they took wine and dunked their cookies in it.  By the time the evening rolled around the fishermen were quite drunk when they came ashore and would stumble into the first house they saw.  Sometimes it wasn't their own, in fact quite often it wasn't their own,  Now some of the women didn't mind but others were a little "put out".  To prevent any accidental  bedding from happening the women decided to paint their homes various bright colors so their husband would recognize their own house.  We visited the island of Burano and you will be able to see right here on my blog - the colorful homes!

 We had some very local wine that was quite sweet and then one that was made of just the grape and tasted a little bit, well a whole lot like a "home brew".  The whole evening was fun and Iola had a keen wit and a charming way about her.  

By this time Michele and I were not really hungry but we did long for a good glass of plain old wine so headed back to the hotel and had a glass in the hotel bar before heading upstairs to bed.  Our late night on the Terraces in Rome was catching up with us!  

Tomorrow we had a walking tour with Luisella in the afternoon.  We already loved Venice and could hardly wait for someone who grew up here to tell us about her city.