Day 11, ahhhhhh, Venice.

We started with breakfast at the hotel after a solid night’s sleep. Our big plan today was to visit this church.

We stared at the church from across the lagoon many times on our last trip to Venice and said, “what’s that place? We should go there.”

We never did until today. Beautiful on the outside stark in the inside. I’m glad we visited.

We walked to this place rather that using the Vaporetto since we are on the same side of the Grand Canal as the church. The side we’re on ends in a point.

The dot is our hotel. The circled point is where Santa Maria Del Salute Cathedral is located.

We knew if we kept walking toward the point we’d get there or end up swimming. As we weaved in and out of little back alleys of Venice we came across this church.

Pretty sure this guy has a burger in his hand.

I have no idea how many times we stopped to take a picture of one of the little side canals. There’s something so beautiful about these.

We finished with the church and decided to head across the Grand Canal to St. Mark’s Square.

This is probably the most popular spot in Venice. We spent plenty of time here last time so after a quick trip to the WC…

This was the sticker on the button to flush the toilet.

…we decided to see if we could find the square where stayed last time to get away from the crush of the tour groups.

After leading Mike down a few dead ends we found it.

It was neat to see it again but I really like the location of our hotel this time. Not only because they shot part of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade there (although my inner geek flips out over this) but mostly because it feels like a Real neighborhood.

We made our way back to the hotel for a nap. Two hours later (gooooood nap) I decided I’d like a coffee so I went out to find a little cafe to sit and enjoy an espresso. I ended up here.

Mostly Venice is pretty pricey. Here I got an espresso for 1 euro. And it was good. This cafe is on a little corner where a mix of tourists and locals passed by. Italian women would greet each other and gossip and children would run around with a soccer ball. I ended up staying here for over two hours watching the Venetian world go by. It was glorious.

Another 1 euro espresso and a couple of snacks .

I had two ciccette (Italy’s version of tapas), one with salami and artichoke heart, the other with ham and some sort of cheese, each on a little slice of bread. Delicious!

This little dog named Duro would come out of a little dress shop his owner works at nearly every time another dog would come by to check the dog out and sniff it’s butt. He’d give a little bark from the interior of the shop if he heard another dog bark.

And there were sooo many dogs! Many off leash just following there owners around. Made me miss Lainey something awful.

Mike joined me and we watch the world (and some very handsome men) walk by. We’d seen a little cheap pasta place close to our hotel and decided to give it a shot. It was probably the cheapest meal we’ve had on this trip and it was pretty darn tasty! Mike had stuffed pasta with pesto and I had handmade spaghetti with a red meat sauce. Filling and yummy.

We went for a stroll beyond where my little cafe was and ended up in a very fun little neighborhood.

Look closesly and you’ll see a little pile of toys. Local kids were playing in this square.

We made our way back to the room to freshen up before our gondola ride. We’d skipped this cliche of an experience last time and regretted it.

Our guide was a fourth generation Gondolier

We left around 9pm for our 35 minute ride. The ride took us past our hotel and through a quiet non touristy neighborhood first.

As you can see it was still very light outside at 9pm. The light kept changing and at one point the street lights came on.

After cruising the quiet canals we went out into the Grand Canal. Since it was evening the traffic of the day was gone and we had it tour ourselves, with the exception of a couple of water taxis and Vaporetti.

I know. Lots of pictures. But it was just so amazing to be sitting in a gondola in the middle of the Grand Canal in Venice!

Wrapping up our ride. The tower in the shot is the oldest bell tower in Venice. And yes, it’s leaning. You would be too if you were 1000 years old!

Cliche or not I’m so glad we did this. Leaving at 9pm and having the light change so dramatically was just magical.

The canal next to the little neighborhood we’re staying in.

Mike ordering what may or may not have been a 3rd gelato of the day.

Earlier in the day we’d visited GROM and enjoyed a nice gelato. The kid working behind the counter was in training on his third day in the job. We chatted for a bit with him and wished him well in the job. GROM has the best gelato I’ve ever had in my entire life.