Venice (again)

Venice: Salute on the Grand Canal

Venice’s famous Rialto Bridge

We have two nights in Venice. We stay at the same hotel as we did in November 2024, and they are very helpful, but our room isn’t as great as last time. Perhaps it’s different if you’re staying 3 nights or longer. But it is fine and sunny, and not too hot. It doesn’t seem quite as crowded as when we were last here. What more can you ask?

In the morning, at breakfast, there don’t seem to be as many people. I wonder about sitting at the window that looks out on a little canal, but the water looks pretty dirty, it’s quite low, and there’s an empty plastic bottle floating in the water!

They have a good toaster and nice bread. I have some scrambled eggs, as well as fruit salad, cereal and yoghurt. And orange juice and coffee, of course.  They don’t have as many options for milk and yoghurt and fruit as some hotels we’ve been to. I know this doesn’t really matter, but the choice of foods available, and the labelling, are very interesting!

After we’ve both showered we set out to walk to Salute, i.e. the Basilica delle Santa Maria Salute, which is the main reason for coming to this beautiful city again. There is a transport strike for most of the day, which means vaporetto aren’t operating for much of the day. But we can walk to Salute, which is near the Peggy Guggenheim gallery. We’ve been there, and don’t intend to go again.

It’s a beautiful fine day, and despite some confusion with Google Maps we get there. So we climb the steps into the church (free entry), but the Sacristy Museum with Not to be Missed paintings by Titian and Tintoretto is closed on Mondays.  In Italy and may parts of Europe some attractions are closed on Mondays. The wary tourist needs to bear this in mind! I really wanted to see these paintings!

Coming back to our hotel we want to go across the Grand Canal and visit St Mark’s Square again, and perhaps the Cathedral. A gondolier (very expensive!) points to a boat that just crosses the Grand Canal for €2 each! It is very bumpy but with help we take the ride. Then we wander through to St Mark’s Square. We share a roll, and some orange juice, but can’t get served for the dessert we’ve chosen to share with coffee.

So we walk to another cafe, this one with a great view of St Mark’s cathedral (the other one had a great view of the Doge’s Palace). Here the service is much better, and we have coffee, a glass of Chardonnay, a beautiful dessert to share, and the waiter brings a covered dish of chippies and another savoury snack!

After this we try to go inside the cathedral, but websites are confusing. Some say entry is free (with identity document); but it’s no use, the guard won’t let us in, he says all tickets have been sold, though it doesn’t look crowded. We did see inside it when we were here in 2024.

So we walk back to our hotel and rest for a while. About 4 pm we go shopping. I want to buy a leather handbag. Goodness knows I don’t really need one, but how can you come to Italy and not buy a handbag? Especially since I saw one I wanted when we were first in Florence but did not have time to buy it, and I’ve been hankering after one like that ever since.

Our hotel receptionist advised us to go the Rialto Bridge area for this purchase. I was doubtful about this, seeing it as a very commercial area, whereas there is a handbag shop right opposite our hotel! But we did walk to the Rialto area. Well, bless JD, I ended up with two leather bags, a green shoulder bag with lovely pouches for my phone and my wallet, and plenty of zipped pockets; it also has the advantage that I can put a Cardigan in it too. I also get a large purse with the red, white and green colours of the Italian flag that I wanted. It actually fits inside the other bag. It just holds my phone and wallet and has a shoulder strap, so I can use it as a handbag too.

We returned to our hotel where I changed into my French linen dress and used my new green bag. We went to Ristorante Noemi for dinner, where we’d been before.  It was lovely although what we ordered was very similar to the night before: pasta with vegetables for JD, and scallopine al funghi for me, in a beautiful sauce. There was also very nice bread to go with the oil and balsamic vinegar. Afterwards we shared a delicious tiramisu. The couple at the next table spoke French! I told them we were going to Paris the next day, and the gentleman advised us to visit the cathedral – c’est magnifique! I’m note sure if he was talking about Montmartre, or Nôtre Dame; I assumed Nôtre Dame, although there’re both magnificent from the outside.

That night was our last in Venice. We have booked a water taxi for 8:15 am for a 9 am train to Milan.  We’ve set both phone alarms for 6:45 am but we don’t sleep very well and we’re awake before that. I get up and shower and finish packing; JD takes a while longer.  Then we go downstairs to have a rushed breakfast before heading to our taxi point. I managed some toast and fruit juice; JD gets me a cup of coffee. Then a very helpful young man takes us to the nearby taxi point, by the Rialto vaporetto stop. It is another beautiful day in Venice. We get to the Ferrovia, and then hire a porter (€20) who takes us into a side entrance to the station this avoiding the steps. We did not know you could do this!

The train 9718 goes from platform 13 at 8:48 am, not 9 am. We are in Coach 8!  It’s a long walk. We get on and sit down and look at the tickets again. It leaves from Venezia Mestre at 9 am!!! Silly me, I’m glad I didn’t realize that. Still, we’re on this very full train and it seems to terminate at Milano Centrale. Then we have about 3 hours to get some more cash, get a taxi to Milano Porta Garibaldi, find a restroom and some food, before catching our high speed train to Paris. Milano Centrale has a beautiful facade but it’s a very busy place.

More adventures ensued!  JD needed to get some more cash, and we found an ATM. Then I decided I needed to use the restroom before we proceeded to Porta Garibaldi.  I had change, and we remembered where it was, but of course there were huge queues.  Furthermore the coin entry system wasn’t working. Someone tried to help in my queue, but without success, do I switched to another queue. When it was my turn, I just gave the assistant the coins and he arranged for the barrier to open. It seems there is little separation between men and women’s facilities.

Then we head for the taxi stand to get a lift to Porta Garibaldi Station. The driver doesn’t speak English; his incorrect instructions about where to go are countermanded by other cab drivers who direct us the other way!

Apparently the main entrance is being rebuilt. We go in, and the Food court is not completed, but has a few fast food options. We get some pizza and some water but decide we need to be nearer the action.  I manage to find the restroom, but it’s ages before the platform is announced. This station is also really complicated. Some trains go at ground level, some lower down.

Eventually the platform is announced, for our high-speed train to Paris, but the police are doing a passport check. We then hasten along the platform – we’re in Coach 18(!); it was coach 8 this morning and that seemed a really long way to go.  The amount of luggage people bring is staggering! We’ve got too much to carry easily but way less than most others.

It turns out there’s coach 1 & 2 on this train, and then coach 18.

Once we find our seats, 838 & 849, on this busy train, we’re all right. And we’re on our way to Paris! We are now on our train to Paris Gare de Lyon. Paris will be our last European stop.

Nga mihi nui!