We’re heading out with friends across the Atlantic to…………………Italy, specifically Venice!  There was a tiny little hint at the end of the previous post.  🙂

Our friends drove down the night before and Eric arranged for local transportation to take us to the airport.  You never know about the traffic, so we planned for an hour drive and 40 minutes later we were wandering through the airport.  Love TSA pre – just saying.  You get to keep your shoes on, don’t have to remove your electronic devices and generally the lines are much, much shorter.   See how happy we are.  🙂

Really, Saturday is the day to fly out.  There just wasn’t anyone around.

In the not-so-distance past, Eric convinced me to get the ‘Priority Pass’ available at most airports.  We’ve used is three times and I was ambivalent about its worth.  Orlando has one of the best locales of the three I have visited.  We had almost two hours to kill before our flight boarded and found this one – yeah!

As you can see from the photos, not a lot of action right now.  Which is probably just as well.  We’re all in rare form this morning and my sides hurt from laughing – just saying.

No matter where you’re at, you just can’t get away from the mouse.  The lounge had several Central Florida photos framed on the walls.

Our flight to Atlanta was uneventful and first order of business was lunch.  Gordon Biersch Brewery was easily available and the boys started their beer journey.

There was a tradition Eric encouraged me to start on our last trip and yes, I carried forth with the tradition this time……………….getting my nails painted at the airport.  It also gave me a chance to stretch my legs during our looonnnggggg 5 hour layover.

Most of the wait was passed sitting in the Club Lounge at Atlanta.  We each could bring a guest, so yes, we all were able to enter.

The food was much better than I remembered from my previous (and only) visit.  When we arrived, there was no problem getting in but after coming back from getting my nails painted, there was a big difference.  Most all of the chairs were taken.

And then……………..….it was time to get on the plane!

It was an uneventful flight, Eric got more sleep than the rest of us.  But then we saw this, the Swiss Alps.

We immediately began our descent into Venice and saw the island from the air.  Our plane was 50 minutes early thanks to a 100-mile tailwind pushing us across the Atlantic.

Going through passport control was a breeze, we quickly picked up our luggage and after purchasing our water taxi tickets at a kiosk, walked to the departure point at the terminal.

A friend of the apartment owner, Lucia, met us at the taxi drop-off and walked us through the streets of Venice until we reached our home for the next 5 days.

Our apartment is a very modern 2-bedroom abode.  The last photo is a view of our apartment from a nearby bridge.  We’re on the second story of the yellow building and our balcony railings are painted purple.  No, the boat does not come with our rental.

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First order of business was lunch.  We passed by this place when Lucia was taking us to the rental.  Stefano, the owner, recommended this place as one that locals would visit.

Eric ordered marinated sardines (which I did try once he deboned it for me) and between us we had 3 orders of pasta and a platter of fried seafood.

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• Me – gnocchi in a light tomato sauce
• Karen – pesto penne
• Rich – sqid-ink pasta with cuttlefish
• Eric – the seafood platter, of course.

I found this little guy wandering the area beside our restaurant.  I was crashing from the lack of sleep and walking up and down the street to stay awake.

None of us could really function so heading back for a (somewhat) short nap was  a priority.  We started stirring around 4pm and while not totally hungry, wanted to take in the ambiance of Venice in the evening.  First up was a Venetian photo for us to send back home.  This is the other bridge seen from our balcony.

Surprisingly, we haven’t gotten lost yet and are able to retrace our steps when needed.  This place looked interesting and it was first stop and our last stop at the end of our evening.

We got a few beers to drink (Avanti March saison and a local Venetian lager) along with this fried cheese and salami & pepper tapas.

We noticed one of the workers (owner?) was making another intriguing dish and when he noticed our interest, gave us 4 bread slides.  It was beef tartar, delicioso!

And so ended our first evening in Venice.  We have some tours coming up this week and much more free time for exploring on our own.

Ciao!

Ginny