Venice: it was a dark and stormy night..
 

We left Berlin in beautiful sunny weather at 7:30 PM on May 4 and arrived in Venice around 9PM. After a bumpy flight and hard landing we rode the bus to the vaporetta stop. A Beatles song played and the lightning flashed across the sky. Welcome to Venice! Our stop was Ca Rezzonico. We were off by one street looking for our hotel in the downpour. We (four of us) huddled under an awning for the worst of it, asked for help and found our hotel..Casa Rezzonico. It was very clean, with new bathrooms, large garden in rear and small canal in front. It was €150 per night with continental breakfast.

With the exception of Thursday morning we had warm weather with the bluest skies one could imagine. Venice is surreal. While I understand its history and how it was built, it just doesn't seem possible. I don't think there are words to do it justice.

aaahhh Venice.

We went to Accademia Galleria Thursday morning and then found our way to St. Marks Square. We wandered along the water back to Dorsoduro. I had my first double gelato along the way followed shortly after by another (!!) double in Campo San Margherita. Much lighter and more fluffy than the first. Plus a glass of prosecco while sitting in the square. Now I know what the Fodorites mean when they rave about those two items!

We ate at Osteria Enoteca in Campo S. Barnaba (where we hid under the awning from the rain). It was very good although I did not care for the seafood sampler appetizer..eel, octopus and lord knows what else. I called it Fear Factor! And for dessert...mousse gelato from yet another place in S. Margherita!

what did you think of staying in the
Ca' Rezzonico neighborhood?

elaine: I have nothing to compare it to but I liked it. I like to walk and it seemed central to me. The vaporetto stop was about a block away from the hotel. We walked to the bus station when we left in about 10 minutes and it was about 15 minutes to St. Marks. It did not seem touristy to me. Have you ever seen photos of the man in the boat who sells vegetables at the canal by S. Barnaba? We were just down from there. We were able to see most of the rooms at Hotel San Barnaba, more expensive but just gorgeous.

Where do you like to stay in Venice?

What was your opinion of the Accademia -time wasted or worth taking time from something else in Venice?

gomiki,

Glad you had such a great time--thanks for the report.

I have always wanted to stay at the San Barnaba, but they've been booked every time I've tried to reserve. Love that area.

Can't wait to hear more.

rickmay: Good question. How much do you like looking at paintings (: They did a good job of explaining the artists and how they were connected. It was not time wasted but if I had very limited time I might do something else. But that's easy to say because I saw it! I was trying to see the things in DK Top Ten Venice. We went to Ca Rezzonico, a museum of 18th century Venice (once owned by Robert Browning). I really enjoyed it. There is furniture as well as art. On the third floor is a very interesting collection of art collected by a man who was a restorer.

I went to Lido and Murano and would not have done that but my TCs wanted to. So much to do, never enough time.

On my visits I've stayed in San Marco, close to the Piazza. I've wondered though what it would be like to stay in Dorsoduro and if I would mind the 15-20 minute walk to the Piazza.

Friday morning we (TC, his daughter and her husband) took the Secret Tour of the Doges Palace. It was wonderful, a must do IMHO. We rushed through the palace afterwards as the rest of the group wanted to go to Lido. It was a beautiful day and the water was as warm as it ever gets on Cape Cod. But no one was in the water as it is cold for the residents! The SIL has a friend who has a summer place nearby and has been to the beach with her. He told us that all the women (at least the younger ones) go to the beach in full makeup and beautifully done hair and would never think of getting wet or swimming!

We split up and my TC & I tried to go to the Frari and got completely lost. We found it and peeked in but had no time to see it. Bact to hotel to change and off to St. Marks for sunset. It is a unique experience. The light, the people, the music combine for something very special.

elaine: Are you there in the high season? It seemed to me to be so crowded. We walked in a large circle past the opera house looking for a restaurant that we never found. It was very quiet off the main area so I guess you can find quiet near St. Marks. Do you have a recommendation?

gomiki, I am just loving this, Great Trip report!!

After not finding the restaurant we were looking for we took a wrong turn past Accademia and found Taverna San Trovaso. It is very good and very reasonable with more than ample portions. They also have outdoor seating in a patio enclosed by high walls. Our only negative comment is that it was so bright. Dimmers would be good!

The next morning I went to the Rialto Market. I love the markets in Paris and this one is a treat! Everything in the markets I have seen in Europe looks like a painting. And I can't imagine how much work it must be to pack, unpack, set up, pack and leave!

It's amazing to see everthing on the canals on and in the boats. Including a coffin. Forgive me, but does anyone know what happens to the deceased in Venice?

Hi Gomiki, great to read about your trip to Venice. I'm smiling about the water being as warm as it ever gets on the Cape but too cold for the Italians. And your fear factor appetizer actually sounds pretty good to me.

I really enjoyed the Accademia. There were wonderful printouts in each gallery explaining the paintings and I learned a lot about a style of painting with which I had been largely unfamiliar.

no,never HIGH season
always late Sept to first week of Oct

elaine: What is the weather like and do you have a hotel to suggest? I feel lucky to have been there when we were. It was around 70 (I think) and the wisteria is draped over walls and hanging over the canals. I think I am spoiled for anything else!

I can't beat wisteria, but late Sept-early October has offered me warm days and cool nights with only occasional drizzle, heavy rain just once.

I've stayed twice at the hotel Flora, and once at the Saturnia Internazionale, they are within a 3 minute walk of each other.

elaine, thanks for the info. I think that would work for me (: I don't mind Paris in dreary weather but I'm not sure I would feel the same way about Venice with all that water around.

Thank you Scarlett & Nikki. Nikki, I eat all the usual raw shellfish. I think it's a texture issue with the other things.

gomiki, they put the deceased on little rafts ala Huck Finn and send them out into the sunset.

Oh, not really, just kidding. There is, between Venice and Murano, the cemetery island San Michele. We went by it in a little boat and it felt appropriately eerie and spooky.

Hi gomiki,

I think we had parallel Venice trips! Last May DH and I stayed in Casa Rezzonico, ate well at Taverna San Trovaso, and hung out in Campo Santa Margherita. Is Matteo still working the front desk at the hotel? He was always so helpful.

Saturday we went to Murano. I would not have done this but it was OK. It was a beautiful day and the ride out was pleasant. We saw a factory and the glassblower making a statue of a horse. It was interesting. The large chandeliers are amazing and some of the specialty items are exquisite. Just not in my budget!

I left and went to St. Marks. I agonized over a few pieces of art and walked around the square again. When I returned to the hotel it had been decided to return to Taverna San Trovaso for dinner. I would have tried something else even though it is very good.

Sunday morning was amusing. I had rinsed some small colored shells and left them in the shower to dry Saturday night. My TC stepped in Sunday morning (groggy and without his glasses) and thought there were beatles in the shower =-o HE was not amused!

We are staying at Casa Rezzonico in June and Matteo has been our email contact so yes, he is still there. Can't wait to get to Venice!

Thank you SeaUrchin! The Huck Finn solution had crossed my mind!

Jocelyn: yes, he is still there and still very nice. Did you have gorgeous weather?

As a matter of fact we did have great weather: high 60s, low 70s.

Mollmatt, have a great time. I have yet to read anything negative about Casa Rezzonico, and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay there.

Hi gom,

Thanks for an interesting report.

((I))

They used to dig up the bodies buried on San Michele and in other locations after a certain number of years and dump the remains on some other island in the lagoon--to make room for the next batch. I don't imagine they do this anymore.

Similar to New Orleans where bodies would be interred above ground in mausoleums. There is a shaft at the back--when there's a new body to be interred, they push the bones of the prior occupant down the shaft to make room.

Actually in Italy, or at least northern Italy, the deceased are buried for twenty years. And then the graves are emptied to make room for the newly deceased. I don't like that idea but that is what is done.

Thanks RufusT & LoveItaly. LoveItaly, if you see this, what happens to them? This may be too much information but I'm curious!

Mollmot: The gelato I loved came from the "Gelateria Il Doge." Just go over the first bridge on the left and walk into S. Margherita. It is on the left, the first or second shop. From there, look to your right. If you go down the middle, there is another one on the left that has great mousse gelato.

Have a wonderful time!

Hi gomiki! "What happens to them?" That is exactly what I asked. And almost wished I hadn't!!

I am certainly not an expert on this subject but it happened to come up as one of my friends in Veneto and I were going to meet a friend of hers for lunch. That morning my friend told me that her friend would not be able to join us as she had just been advised "they were going to move her mother". I was confused because I had been under the impression this woman's mother was dead. Well gomiki, she was! It was explained to me that after 20 years the bones are removed and put in what I guess you would call a common grave. Even though my friend speaks excellent English I was not sure if there wasn't some kind of a comminication problem. I asked her son later about this and he confirmed it was true due to there not be enough land space to have cemetaries the way we do here in the US.

A week later I asked another friend and he too confirmed it. His grandmother had died just 2 years before and he said to me "oh yes, in 18 years they will move her bones to make way for the new dead people". Mama mia!

I questioned my Rome born and raised son-in-law (who now lives here in my city) and he also confirmed this.

However, having said that, I have been to cemetaries in small villages (villages that friends parents immigrated from) and there are graves going back decades, actually have seen some that were in the early 1800's. Mostly crypts with a photo of the deceased on the crypt. So obviously it is not true in all of Italy. I do not know when this custom started either.

There certainly is a lot of "open space" in Italy but guess the people or the government does not want them used for cemetaries. The next time I sit down and visit with my SIL I will ask him to explain in further details. That ought to make for a lively and fun conversation, you think?

BTW, did you like mother natures electrical storm when you arrived in Venice? I am always awed with these storms as we don't get many where I live, and certainly not the intensity of Italy's.

Welcome to the "I Fell In Love with Venice Club," gomiki. Great trip report. I'm looking forward to returning this fall myself and interested to see how different the city will be at that time of year, versus our previous July visit.

That produce boat that you spoke of in Campo San Barnaba must be a permanent fixture for many years. I even noticed it in the Katherine Hepburn film, "Summertime."

I have also recently been enlightened about the 20 year max on burials at St. Michele. The info was noted in Donna Leon's book, "Death at La Fenice."

LoveItaly, thank you for the info. Yes, the conversation w/SIL should be interesting! The lightning storm was great. I wasn't quite so happy about the rain with it but it was an interesting arrival.

Statia, Yes, I am an official member! I ((L)) Venice. I'll look for your report about Venice in the fall.

Sounds like a wonderful trip! I too have memories of ice cream in Campo San Margherita and of the man selling produce from his boat and of being awed by the very idea of how Venice was built, by the wonderful fresh food markets and by the beautiful waterways and setting.

We stayed in Violino d'Oro which was only a few minutes walk from San Marco but in a pretty and reasonably peaceful square of its own. This was back in 2002.

It was wonerful! I forgot to mention that on Sunday morning they were having the annual Gondola Regatta. There are teams in the gondolas and they race to Lido. Some of the guys were not so young! We wondered if they have different classes like they do for sailing regattas.