Venice - We arrive at last!

We arrived in Venice on the 30th of October by train from Florence. The two hour ride was good except Michael got sick all over us in the train so you can imagine the mess trying to clean up and not stink the place out! Let's just say we could not wait to get there so we could get the clothes washed and change.

Anyway, after leaving the train station we came outside onto the Grand Canal to be greeted by sunshine for the first time in days. So far so good.

We then noticed that to get to the landing we had a flight of stairs to go down with all our suitcases and bags. As Trevor said,"Not a good place for a staircase when you come off a train with luggage". We tried carefully to hold on to Michael (we could just see the headlines, Australian couple loses 4 year old son in the Grand Canal - LOL but not so funny when you think about it!) and get all the luggage down the stairs.

We then walked to what was a taxi stand to get ripped off for a 5 minute water taxi ride to our apartment for 50EU (that is $100), we are sure that cannot be the price even if Venice is extremely expensive. But at that point we did not care, we just had to get there.

Video: Grand Canal Taxi Ride and View from our Apartment

The apartment called "Ai Carmini Residence" was the best we have had. ADSL internet, big rooms, breakfast supplies, good shower, and lots of space. We intend to leave a good review for this one.

Photos below:

For lunch we took a walk to the closest Piazza to find a bunch of Al fresco eateries. We chose the best looking menu and took a load off. Trevor and Michael took the opportunity to try yet another pasta dish. Trevor is on a roll and wants to try the "Penne all'Arrabbiata" in each city to find the best.

Michael chose pasketi again (translation from 4 year old "spaghetti"). The photo below shows Michael very intent on eating a good lunch, after a few mouthfuls, he of course""had had enough" and left most of it on the plate. A similar story at each of our mealtimes.

Tomorrow we visit Murano, where they will demonstrate how they blow glass and St Mark's Square (assuming it is not under water as sometimes occurs at this time of year). Stay tuned!