European Voyage Part Cinque: Venezia

One of the perks of our Eurail pass was jumping on a train any given day for a spur-of-the-moment day trip. It was a little rainy in Florence, so my mom and I decided to hop on a train to Venice. We hadn't planned on making the trip over, but it was only a 4 hour ride and well worth it. It was a little drizzly in Venice too, but such a crazy, amazing place. The odor is indescribable. It's not terrible or fishy...it's just Venice I guess. We spent most of our day on the water buses tootling around the different islands. Man was it cold though. I was ready to get on the nice warm train by the end of the day.

I never quite got over seeing steps just leading into water.

Doge's Palace

Piazza San Marco

The one goal my mom and I had while we were in Venice was to have spritzes, a drink my sister Emily had raved and raved about having while she was in Venice with her husband. They had them at Campo Santa Margherita and said it was a really cute area. Well if we thought Siena was confusing, we had another thing coming when we got to Venice. Instead of venturing to Campo Santa Margherita, we decided to stay at Piazza San Marco for spritzes. They were sooooo good!

Here's the recipe:

• 1 1/2 ounces Aperol (rhubarb liqueur)
  
• 3 ounces Prosecco or sparkling wine, chilled
• Sparkling mineral water or club soda, chilled
• 1 orange slice
• 1 green olive

I personally like my spritz in a tumbler with crushed ice, but it's good any which way. It's really become the family favorite drink. Emily just moved back to Germany and said spritzes are all the rage. One restaurant here in Atlanta serves Aperol, but I haven't seen it anywhere else. We usually just order ours from the local liquor store, so it's easy enough to get.

There were so many dogs in Venice! They were everywhere: off leash, on leash, dressed, and not dressed.

We were only in Venice for lunch, so we just grabbed a quick snack at a bar.

They were okay, nothing to write home about, but not bad by any means. They were nice, hearty, and warm, all that mattered at that point.

We didn't want to venture too far from the train station since we were on the last train back to Florence, so we just wandered around to different shops. We came upon this really cute produce market.

I'm really glad that we got to spend some time in Venice. I would love to go back for longer, and maybe in the springtime when my fingers and toes won't freeze....