Venice Italy 2005 - 119
Originally uploaded by SaurabhA.
Ever since we got engaged in Rome in December 2003, it has been our dream to be able to come back to Italy and spend our first anniversary in Venice. As luck would have it, our move to France in December 2004 set the stage for us to be able to easily make the trip out to Venice for our first anniversary.
We arrived in Venice on Friday afternoon after quite a long ordeal traveling from Paris. Nonetheless, the weather was perfect, and we were ready to discover the most romantic city in the world. Paul and Carlene had recommend a cute little hotel called Locanda Armizo (picture) right by the Rialto bridge in the San Silvestro area. It was reasonably priced, perfectly located and served a nice little breakfast in bed every morning. We spent almost all of Friday taking in the cities waterways, bridges and squares. We also had some very good pasta at a restaurant by the Rialto bridge. Before heading home for some late-afternoon rest, we dropped by an Italian deli to pick up some meats and cheese. When we returned home in the evening, we were pleasantly surprised to find a chocolate cake and some Champagne waiting for us at the hotel (picture); it was a present from my Mom, Dad and Ashish. The cake was great and we spent the remainder of the weekend eating it whenever we wanted a snack.
On Saturday, our anniversary, we spent the day exploring the city and went off to the islands of Lido and Murano (picture). On Lido, we found a nice dress for Nadya and had lunch. We also stopped at a local market to pick up some Apricots, figs, bread, and meats. On Murano, we looked at some of the glass shops and peeked into a glass factory. In the evening, we made up a little picnic (picture) comprising of meats, cheese, bread, figs, chocolate cake (that was sent to us the previous day) and some Moet et Chandon Champagne that we had brought with us from our trip to the Champagne region. We took our little picnic and sat on a dock near the Rialto bridge. The whole city was alive with tourists, but we had this little dock to ourselves to enjoy our picnic and watch the gondolas and boats float by. It was a truly romantic evening and we couldn’t possibly have imagined anything better for our first anniversary.
On Sunday, we spent more time exploring the back alleys and less-touristed areas of Venice. We took a vaporetto ride (picture) all around the lagoon and generally enjoyed life at a nice, slow Italian pace. By this point, we had seen the numerous sites of Venice many times over, including Piazza San Marco (picture), San Marco’s Basilica (picture), Rialto Bridge (picture), Accademia Bridge (picture), the Grand Canal (picture), the Doge’s Palace (from the outside), and numerous other markets, buildings and squares. Another nice surprise on Sunday is that there was a music festival in town, so there were bands playing music at every corner and square.
On Monday, our last day, we spent the morning in San Marco’s Basilica (picture) and had lunch by the Rialto bridge. The basilica was quite a sight with beautiful mosaics and golden finishes throughout. We also saw the four famous bronze horses which were taken from Constantinople and are thought to be around 2000 years old.
