We left on May 8th, 2010 for two weeks in Italy. The first week's adventures on our own in Rome, Venice and Florence preceded our gastronomic week in Tuscany with the fabulous Sherry Page of Culinary Getaways!
In Venice, we stayed at the Hotel Rialto, located next to the famed Ponte Rialto (and very conveniently located next to a vaporetto or water taxi stop). It is the big terra cotta colored building in the picture at left. As you can see below, the room was done in an old Venetian style, with voluminous drapery across the doors to the balcony and very high ceilings.
Waiting for us in the suite were fresh flowers and prosecco.
Above the fantastical clear, pink and blue Murano glass chandelier (what else?) was a beamed ceiling painted with very traditional old-world gilt designs.
Our room had a balcony that overlooked the Grand Canal. It is the second set of windows, with flags of the EU, Italy and the City of Venice and boxes of geraniums.
Above:The view from our balcony. You can see the Ponte Rialto to the side. Right: On the balcony with the Venetian flag next to me.
We arrived at lunch time so we walked across the Rialto to a restaurant next to a gondola landing (above left). We were seated next to the Canal where we had a great view of our hotel and the bridge. And for dessert, I had the best panna cotta I've ever had.
geofffiorito.net
Gondolas are a fact of life in Venice.
It seems like every walkway, alley, canal, or bridge is a mysterious or beautiful view. Venice is a maze of passageways, lanes and paths.
Above: a shop window selling traditonal Venetian Carnivale masks. Below: a souvenir stand selling flags of the city with the winged lion.
While it doesn't matter since it is such a small city, it is very easy to get lost in Venice. Thankfully, there are handy signs directing the way to landmarks, like the "Per S. Marco" sign below, meaning "This way to Saint Mark's Square."
While visiting Piazza San Marco one afternoon, we noticed a film set. We were on our way to tour the Doge's Palace, but we stopped for a peek at the set before heading in. None of the canvas director's chairs had actor's names on them--I suspected they were all producers. But we thought to get closer to see exactly who was on set and were met with Johnny Depp! For the ten-second shot, he was walking across the Piazza toward the camera where a bird wrangler would throw some pigeons at him (while fanatical girls squealed "JOHNNY! JOHNNY!" from the gathered crowd).
The beautiful symbol of Venice, the winged lion, can found everywhere.
Photos are not allowed inside the Doge's Palace but we took some of the inner courtyard and statuary that flanks the grand staircase at the rear.
Daily life in Venice. Left: Delivery boats outside the hotel delivering beverages, milk, yogurt and butter to the hotel and restaurants. Above: Normal water traffic and, right, a Police boat speeding by (yes, they pulled over for the Police boat).
Right: This gondolier brought his dog to work! Center: These are the stacked iron legs and wooden walkways, called passarelle, always ready to be set up at a moment's notice when the water gets too high. Right: One of the many inlets (it really is the opposite of a drain) which allows the tide to come in and flood the Piazza San Marco. The daily high tide must be allowed to flow UP or it would rip up the stones, I'm sure...
After drinks and cutting edge chill-out music at the bar of the chic and imaginatively designed Metropole Hotel (it looks like a cross between a sailing ship, articles from the ancient Venetian silk and spice trade, and Edwardian England), we ate dinner a few doors down at Ristorante Wildner, a glass room that looks out over the lagoon. I had the most amazingly delicious squid ink pasta (far right) with diced scallops. The waiter was very concerned and made sure that I understood the dish was NOT pasta in a red sauce but that the pasta itself is black ( "No rosso... NERO"). He must have had some very confused, clueless Americans expecting pasta and calamari in a red sauce, and wanted to avoid any problems!
After dinner, we walked around soaking up the nighttime Venetian atmosphere. The water was rising with the nightly high tide, lapping up over stairs and landings, left. We found Piazza San Marco full of water, as you can see in the picture at the right--we had to stay on the high walkways around the edge of the square, in the arcades, to get to our alternate and dry route back to our hotel at the Rialto. Below left, you can see the gondola parking lot we saw on our alternate route back. And below right is the Ponte Rialto at night from our balcony. Magical...
