It is an amazing thing that within 24 hours one can go from an apartment in Texas to a hotel in Italy. The amazing becomes depressing when one realizes that this time has not improved in over 50 years since the introduction of jet airliners.
This trip we didn't get vaporetto (water bus) passes, so we're walking everywhere. There is no better place in the world to wander; if you've never been here, Google "venice map" to see what a maze it is. There's no grid, no plan, no organization: major thoroughfares may be barely wide enough for two people to pass while some large squares sit empty and silent. Of course there's no wheeled vehicles of any sort except for baby strollers and grocery carts that need to be wrestled up and down the bridges. A walk of five minutes from hotel to restaurant may twist and turn up and down a dozen streets and across several canals. The shortest distance between two points is never a straight line, always a zig-zag.
On Thursday, our first full day in Venice, we revisited major sites and old favorites. We walked from our hotel in Castello near the Ospedale to Campo S. Maria Formosa, then on to the tourist madness of the Rialto Bridge. We wandered through S. Polo on the far side of the Grand Canal and eventually made our way down to Dorsodouro, where we had a delightful lunch at Taverna San Trovaso. We had a gelato as we walked along the Zattere, then headed back over the Accademia bridge to return to Piazza San Marco.
Friday was a day to explore new areas. We headed east through quiet old neighborhoods of Castello, past Arsenale, then along the bustling markets of Via Garibaldi. We visited S. Pietro on its little island, then wandered through eerily quiet residential neighborhoods. Parks, trees, block after block of apartments with no bars, no restaurants, no shops -- it was a Venice we had never seen before. We walked back along the fondamente to the tourist madness of Riva degli Schiavoni and had lunch at a little place down a side street behind the Bridge of Sighs.
Today, Saturday, has been gray and misty. We went to the Correr Museum (where we discovered that the paintings we most wanted to see, masterpieces by Carpaccio and Bellini, were on loan to Tokyo) and a guided tour of the renovated clock tower overlooking Piazza San Marco. Later this evening we'll head out to try a new neighborhood place for dinner.
Tomorrow we'll wander some more and then on Monday we'll head off the beaten path.
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