Our flight didn’t get in until around 7:00 p.m. from Budapest, leaving us feeling that typical airport induced delirium.  We took a 20 minute bus ride from Marco Polo airport to get to the actual islands of Venice, and then strolled the cobble stone streets that arch and jigsaw over and through murky, emerald canals to reach our hotel.  Though we were laden with luggage, I loved this stroll into the heart of Venice in the sun setting light.  Everything had a golden hue to it, even the sweating tourists and trash collecting in the crevices of the canals.  Having already been to Venice, once we checked in to our hotel, Hotel Villa Rosa, which was quite nice and very affordable, we had only one itinerary item: pasta. Czech and Hungarian cuisine left us pining for something our taste buds could truly celebrate.  Ultimately, we were highly successful in our mission di carbohydrates and I’ll describe this more in depth within the highlights below.  Venice has a magical quality to it.  Sure, it might  feel like you’re walking Main Street of Disneyworld, but when you catch an empty side canal and take in the stone and ivy covered walls with their painted shutters ajar and window boxes overflowing with flowers, it’s hard to not fall in love with this fictional feeling city.

Highlights and moments:

Enjoying one of the best meals of my life dockside of a canal with an authentic Italian ambiance. Sadly, we don’t remember the name of this little family run canal-side delight, but the good news is that we simply stumbled into this gem not expecting much of the food, but more so selecting it for its romantic waterside ambiance.  In fact, we were expecting the food to be sub-par, considering how touristy Venice is and knowing that usually with touristy comes overpricing and under quality.  Maybe it was having these low expectations, or maybe it was the culinary low we had just experienced in the previous country, but when we sank our teeth into those cheesy, creamy, handmade pastas, speaking became an unnecessary chore and our pants feeling a bit tighter became a worthwhile discomfort.

Taking a moonlit walk through the streets and canals.  After dinner we got an “after dinner drink” of two bottled beers from a street vendor as we strolled the cobble stone streets lined with shops and vendors closing up for the day.  We got a little merrily lost, and popped into as local a Venice bar could probably feel, and ogled some beautiful people on the back patio.

In conclusion, Venice certainly awed me more when I was 4 years younger and seeing it for the first time.  Its grittier, non-fictional underbelly seemed to rear its head  a bit more lucidly this time around.  Nonetheless, it still possesses a magical aura about it. Its movie set aesthetic spawns a fanciful vibe, and indulging in hand crafted pasta while watching the sun sink down below a canal spanning bridge was a memory my senses will never forget.