Eastern European Vacation Day 1

Wow, what happened to day zero, I went from -1 to 1; did you know the number zero did not always exits, it had to be invented – really, Google it.

We spent a fairly relaxed day at home since our flight was not until 7:25PM out of San Francisco. On instructions from Sandra, I made up a packed lunch for the journey – she does not like the airline food; who does? So its cheese and Branston pickle sandwiches for us – everyone on the plane will be jealous!

While we are gone our granddaughter, Alex, has kindly been volunteered to house sit and our good friend Karen is once again tending to the cats. We are fortunate to have such good support.

Our daughter, Laura, was kind enough to drive us to Kat and Mike’s house where we boarded their van for transfer to the airport. The San Francisco Giants are playing the opening game for the World Series tonight – so we were a little worried about the traffic, but it was fine.

Checked in and through security without any problems – I even got scanned by the new full body scanner gadget, what fun! We found a nice spot to park our bums and settled down to have a nice cool beer. 15 minutes before we board our flight to Zurich where we have a 2 hour lay over before continuing on to Venice. What would Marco Polo think about having an airport named after him!

The flight to Zurich was uneventful; the usual 10 ½ hours in a cramped, confined space sitting on a hard seat and trying to get some sleep. We continued on to Venice without any problems – all flights were on time, we arrived around 6:45PM local time.

We had not pre-booked a water taxi, but this proved to be no problem – there is a big desk in the middle of the terminal where you can order a taxi. After coughing up the 100 Euros we were instructed to follow the marked path to pier 8 and ask for Paolo. It turned out to be a hike of about 10 minutes, with our entire luggage in tow.

The water taxi was great; it had an open front area for the driver and a covered rear that could seat about 8. The ride from the airport into Venice took about 25 minutes – and even though it was dark, and we were very tired, it was still very exciting for us. As we approached the city the driver throttled back and we entered a canal at a nice leisurely pace. Our hotel was on the opposite side of the city from the airport, so we had to traverse several canals – including the Grand Canal to arrive at our destination. The back end of the boat had a glass roof which was great for leaning back and taking in the incredible architecture of Venice.

We finally arrived at the Hotel Violino D’Oro; the boat dropped us off and we had just a small walk over a small canal bridge to reach the hotel entrance. Violino D’Oro is a very small hotel, only 3 stories, built in a former 17th century baroque mansion. We were assigned room 304 which we found to be very nicely decorated and clean – though a little on the small side.

After a quick wash we joined Kat and Mike and headed out for dinner. On the advice of the desk clerk we went to a restaurant called Vinovino, about 5 minutes from the hotel. The meal was good; I especially enjoyed the sardine appetizer – and after the desserts and wine we were all ready for some much needed sleep. I think it is going to take us a little while to get used to the Italian restaurant culture – especially the speed of service. After waiting about 30 minutes, we had to launch a major manhunt to track down the waiter just to get the bill.