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Venezia 2018

JustTravel

1000+ Posts
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It's always good to be back. We touched down at about 5:30 pm and on our way on a water taxi by 6:10 pm Tuesday last week. Passport control was quick - being led to the electronic gates, scanning our own passport to open the gate, and then to an agent who stamped them.

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As soon as this comes into view, there's a feeling of "almost home"​
 
Please note that this will not be your typical tourist trip report. We are here in Venice for our 12th consecutive Christmas, staying in the same apartment in the last seven years - a two-bed/two-bath apartment just a bridge from the Rialto market. We go out for a cappuccino and latte macchiato every morning but do almost all of our eating at home.

Travel days seem to get longer as we get older. We deviated from our normal overnight stay at the Sofitel at LHR T5 and arriving in Venice in the middle of the day, since BA offered a connecting flight to Venice with a three-hour layover. We were chosen to have TSA precheck at SFO, so security was a breeze. LHR passport control was also a non-issue: no line for FastTrack, scanned our passport to open the electronic gate and off to security. I took out our liquids, iPad and laptop but forgot about the kindle, so that bag had to be manually checked, and that took a little while.

Then off to the North BA lounge which was standing room only, so we chose to walk to the South lounge to wait for our connecting flight. That lounge also got real full after a while. We would have gone to the B lounge except that our connecting flight to Venice was departing from the A gates.

We have asked our landlord/good friend to get us some bottled water, fruit and yogurt just in case we arrive after the supermarket has closed. We just couldn't face going out to eat after all the airport and airplane food. But as luck would have it, the Coop nearby was still open, so we bought a small package of chicken thighs, a big potato and zucchini. I cooked them simply with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. I packed some oatmeal cookies from home, which was dessert that first evening.
 
I rather enjoyed the photos, making a nice contrast to more common sunny / bustling images.

Make no apologies for it being an atypical trip report on Venice. I am a huge believer in doing what works for each of us, and your style seems much closer to what we would do, than the more typical tourist experience.
 
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After sleeping for five hours I couldn't sleep anymore, despite of no sleep for more than thirty hours, so I was up at 5:30am unpacking after a cup of hot chocolate.

At 8am, I went out shopping at the Rialto. First to the fruttivendolo for fruit and vegetables, then to the pescivendolo for a branzino di mare; to the butcher for couple of chicken breast that I asked him to grind and finally to Casa del Parmigiano for some parmigiano, prosciuto crudo and cotto plus some bresaula and eggs. I am well known to these vendors and they were all so welcoming. I am happy that they are all still there. Venice is a changing. Many of the the small shops catering to the residents are disappearing and being replaced by souvenir shops and take-away eateries.

After breakfast in the apartment and coffee at Cafe del Doge, we took a walk - over the Rialto to the Academia bridge and Dorsoduro.

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.....the gilded cage​

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.....newly renovated Academia bridge where it is harder to attached those pesky locks
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It was lovely to catch up with you.
We have one more week till we leave and are planning the week at the moment. Will let you know.
Everyone travels differently and we had planned to cook while here. It hasn’t happened! Too much nice chicetti and restaurants!
Being here a month we haven’t had to rush out too early to fit everything in, and we had 3 weeks here last visit with all the tourist sites visited so not important this time.
We are looking forward to your blog and will follow it avidly. We followed your last blog and got lots of ideas for our stay.
 
Mobile phones: I have had my Tim sim for about ten years. As soon as I can, I stop in at the Rialto Tim store and ask about their promozioni. This time I chose the €10/month for 1000 sms plus 100 minutes of calls within Italy. I will cancel this promotion just before we leave. I don't need data as I have signed up with TMobile ONE Unlimited 55/One Plus. Also have a flip phone with another Tim sim for the apartment. So far this arrangement is working well for us.
 
A very appetising looking veggie lasagne - a world away from the 'vegetarian option' of a thousand restaurants over the last 3-4 decades!
 
This morning's walk

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Empty calle at 7:15 am​

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Light traffic on Canale Grande​

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Pontoon bridge waiting for this morning marathon runners​

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Fairly empty Piazza San Marco​

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The winged lion keeping watch​


Acqua alta at midday with gentle rain - outside our windows

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The water level was still rising. The calle had at least 4-5 inches of water before it started receding.
 
From the look of quite a few photos on my Twitter feed today, you'd need proper waders for some of the low-lying ground around the Piazza! Still, I hope your day isn't too disrupted - and you certainly know Venice well enough to be able to keep out of the worst of the high waters.

And Philippa is glad that she retired from marathons 18 months ago: Maureen posted an extraordinary video on FB of runners (and a wheelchair athlete) struggling through the waters on the Riva!
 

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