Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Venice travel report

I'm new to these, but will give it a stab since I found them incredibly helpful: We returned from our honeymoon to Venice on Monday. Delta was not very kind about upgrading honeymooners (in fact, they placed us next to a screaming toddler for the flight NYC to Milan -- birth control?). We arrived last Tuesday in Milan, very easily caught the Milan Express to the Central train station (so cheap! and quick!). Took an earlier train than our reservations; only problem was finding the second class car. They're not marked, and we didn't figure out the signs between the trains until our train ride back. Arrived in Venice after lunch and it was so beautiful. Weather was perfect -- low 80s F. Advice here to avoid the touristy spots during the day was perfect -- we got "lost" our first evening out and truly enjoyed the maze of the Venice streets. Everything was so much closer than we imagined. We took the boats to Murano, Burano and Torcello, but since this was our second day we were still a little jet-lagged and didn't enjoy Torcello like we should have. We did take a gondola ride -- expensive but worth every penny (our gondolier even backed up our boat so we could kiss under the Bridge of Sighs as the bells were tolling at sunset!). HOTEL We stayed at La Calcina. Room #32 was bigger than I expected (bigger than a New York hotel room) and had the best view I've ever experienced, with the Guidecca Canal in front and a smaller canal to the side. Cost was $176/night. No elevator, but staff was great and comp breakfast was good enough. FOOD We went with several Fodor recommendations -- Vino Vino (not bad, but staff were testy); and Gato Nero on Burano (pasta was good, soup was lousy, entree was not bad). I recommend Terrazza Sommariva right by the Rialto Bridge for the service and atmosphere. Food was pretty good too. And we found that for the Battle of the Bands on St Mark's Square, Quadri, Lavena and Florian had basically the same menu, cost and service. Their desserts tasted the same to us (although the bands all seemed to repeat themselves, it still was the best atmosphere imaginable). Definitely bring an extra bag for souvenirs, and splurge a little in Murano. We knew ahead of time how much we were willing to spend, and just walked around the shops until we found exactly what we wanted at exactly the right price. The glass in the Venice shops were often plastic feeling, versus the handmade glass. Wine was so cheap -- and wine tasting at a little wine shop just down a canal from the Zattere vaporetto stop was so much fun. Vaporettos were so easy to navigate, though we only discovered the end of day 2 that some go in two directions (like the #82 and #1).