Journey stats:

Lisa bug bite count: 4

Cats seen: 2

My bug bite stat increased by two this morning. We discovered a mosquito in the apartment. Jacob promised to avenge me but despite our best efforts the mosquito continues to evade us.

I wanted to add a few more thoughts to yesterday. When we arrived to Venice and realized the ferries weren’t running several people were very helpful in getting us information and helping us on our way. A man on the train explained to us about the strike and the boats that were not running, then he directed us which way to get off the train. He was going between English, German and another language with another group on the train. Moments like this fill my cup.

I did not sleep well last night. As I reported we got in late to Venice and I was eating dinner at 10 p.m. while working on the blog. We are in an apartment very near the famous Rialto Bridge. We cracked the window before bed and could hear people out on the streets. But the worst of it was our upstairs neighbors. It sounded like they were right outside our door yelling. A young child was screaming at the top of their lungs past 1 a.m. and at some point in the night someone knocked on our door, I assume looking for the group upstairs. Around 3 a.m. again I heard the group loudly. Jacob thankfully passed out and slept through all of this but I ended up with only a few hours of sleep.

Jacob woke up at 6 a.m. and went to the living room to watch the Sounders game. I slept in until 7:30 a.m. When I got up I felt terrible. After some coffee, water and a shower I was doing ok so we headed out to a market nearby. We picked up some fresh pastries, yogurts, bananas and some waters. We returned to our apartment and got some laundry started.

We then ventured out to the city! I took so many pictures I created an album you can view here. The pictures are kind of out of order because it has phone pictures and camera pictures, but you get the feel for the day!

I felt like every corner turned and every bridge we crossed was a photo worthy moment. It was just incredible! We started by crossing the Rialto Bridge then heading to St. Mark’s Square. Here we saw Saint Mark’s Basilica and the Doge’s Palace. We then walked along the water until we turned north and headed back into the city. We passed by the Venetian Arsenal. We ventured through different alleys, just meandering aimlessly in the direction toward our apartment.

The heat was bearing down on us and it was about lunch time. I had noticed a bistro around the corner from us with a good variety of sandwiches and pizza. We stopped there. Jacob got a slice of pepperoni pizza and I got a sandwich with fresh mozzarella. We took our food to go since our apartment was around the corner. We ate our food and then I crashed for a mid-day nap.

The mosquito made an appearance again but found a good hiding spot and we failed yet again to eliminate it.

After lunch and nap time, we headed back out. We still had our water bus tickets from yesterday so we used these to take the ferry to Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute. This is on the opposite end of where we had walked in the morning. We toured inside and I just took this one photo. The entire exterior was being renovated and was covered up.

We then walked from here along the water and then later through alleyways and over bridges back toward our apartment. We stopped along the way and got some ice cream and a few cool drinks. We passed the Basilica S.Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. This is the largest church in Venice and took a few photos.

We arrived back at the apartment for rest break two. The heat is really draining, but luckily we have ample shade and often a nice breeze here so it isn’t so bad.

One thing we noticed, and you’ll see it in my photo album, but there are stretches where we just see empty streets. Then there are parts of Venice that are totally packed. We were glad we could escape the crowds for some parts of our day today.

A few other observations. We were required to wear masks on the water bus, but you don’t have to wear them inside anywhere. It seemed a little odd since the ferry is mostly outside. The public WC here cost $1.50 euro. Jacob said they better be the nicest wizzers he’s ever seen. Luckily, our apartment is so close we haven’t had to use any of these fancy toilets.

This evening we are going to venture back out to Saint Mark’s Square and pick up some dinner on our way back. Tomorrow we leave for Cortina. We are little disappointed because the forecast calls for thunderstorms every single day we are there. We are going to do our best to enjoy the time we have and hope the weather isn’t too bad.

Until then!