Venice!

I don't even know how to begin!

Venice is AMAZING!!!

So as you know, we only went to Venice for about 5 hours, but it was a wonderful half-day and all I needed to fall in love. 

We arrived by train around noon and immediately got a map and water taxi tickets. The ride to the city center, St. Mark's Square, was stunning. 

We even had a woman captain and first mate!

Pretty cool :)

The very first thing we did was get lunch, since the train ride had been 2 hours and it took us another hour to find our way on the water taxi to the city. We were hungry. So we stopped at a little cafe faaaaar from St. Mark's Square and got some reasonably-priced pizza. 

Love tuna pizza :) 

Then we wandered towards St. Marks, over canals and down windy streets, past gondolas that can only mean you are in one place in the world. 

Eventually we meandered our way to the square. Unfortunately the famous basilica was under heavy construction, but it was still beautiful from what we could see. 

The square itself is very magical. Cafes line the sides and little orchestras play for customers and passers-by. 

For about an hour we wandered the winding streets, soaking up the atmosphere and looking at masks and Murano glass. 

We eventually found our way to the Rialto bridge, which is huge for Venice and line with shops. 

It also had a good view of the canal. 

After the bridge it was gelato o'clock, and our time left in Venice was quickly diminishing. We wandered around a bit more and eventually made it back to St. Mark's. 

We found a nice little garden to walk in for for a few minutes. 

And then we headed back to the waters edge to catch a nice early water taxi back to the train station.

So then we headed back to the train station, where we spent out last half hour in Venice on a bridge watching the sun go down over the canal. 

We left Venice on the last train out- 7:30- and got back to Florence at 9:30, where we got carry out pizza and went to bed. 

Our trip to Venice was short but so sweet. We went without a plan or a list if sights to see. We soaked up the city as best we could in only ~4 hours, and I absolutely love it. Can't wait to take my honey there one day. 

Sorry these posts are concise- I'm trying to catch up! Venice was Monday and today is Thursday! We are staying in tonight though so maybe I can catch you all up. 

Ciao for now, more later today.