Venice, Italy

Thursday, June 19, 2025

Who decided it was a good idea to book an 8am train 15 minutes from our apartment when we had just completed a very tiring 18 hour day? Us. And this train was crucial to our otherwise loose itinerary. 

We woke up less than 10 minutes before we needed to leave. When I looked at my phone and saw the time, my stomach sank. We could not miss this train. So, up we got, rushing through our morning routines and skipping many steps. While this AirBnb was very nice, the instant water heater for the shower barely worked, so Jeffrey took a very fast, ice cold shower while I frantically packed my things. 

We made it. On the train, I gingerly nursed a Coke and the broken fruit pastry I was given on the previous day’s train. My stomach was a bit upset this morning (partially because I could STILL taste the truffles from the carbonara I had on our first night in Florence). Thankfully, I was able to take a little nap on the train and I woke up feeling much better.

On this train, we also met a family from Maryland who was traveling in Italy for a family wedding, and they were hilarious. They entered the train with MASSIVE luggage (they were gone for two weeks, and we heard the wedding was extremely formal, complete with fireworks when they kissed during the first toast, so I got the need for the large luggage).

The daughter (who was about my age) sat next to me, and her boyfriend sat across the aisle. Her parents and brother were further back, and they all struggled to get their luggage through the aisles and into the train storage. The daughter was in this cocktail length, red-square patterned tank dress- not something fit to drag luggage through a train. She had her hair perfectly done, complete with all the perfect jewelry for her outfit. I felt so underdressed and unfabulous next to her, with my unwashed face (from having to rush through my morning routine) and comfortable travel clothes with an upset stomach for the day ahead of us. As soon as she sat down, all flustered, she started talking about where they were going and her family. She raised the straw on her Stanley, and it went “pshh,” like she was opening a pop can. Then she goes, “Oh and we accidentally bought sparkling water so now every time I go to get a drink it’s pressurized.” I died. She was so funny. Then her boyfriend started talking about Chick Fil A and how much he wanted some, but then they remembered they’d be returning to the states on a Sunday, and he was so annoyed. It made me feel good that another American was missing their creature comforts.

Once we arrived in Venice, we had about 3 hours until we could get into our AirBnb, and it was HOT. Hannah (see Florence, Italy), had told us that Venice didn’t have great options when it came to food (it had a lot of expensive seafood), and she was right. Nothing sounded good, we were sick of pasta and pizza, and we were tired of being hot, and the day had just begun.

We found a couple options, and after some convincing, I decided on Green Gem, a Chinese Italian restaurant that had choices that sounded similar to home, including a chicken vegetable stir fry that sounded AMAZING. I ordered that and Jeff ordered a steamed version along with an aperol spritz for him and a cappuccino for me. It. Was. Life. Giving. I kid you not, in the land of pasta and pizza and all of the Italian food I’ve dreamt of for the last decade, this rice stir fry was my FAVORITE meal of the entire trip. I am STILL dreaming of this meal. It was SO flavorful. Jeffrey’s especially had a delicious blend of spices, and lucky for me, he didn’t want his vegetables or the salty seaweed they had included on his plate, so I got to add them to my rice bowl. It was perrrrfection. I was so happy to have rice! Jeff wasn’t a fan of the spritz, but I thought it was good! It felt right to officially say I had an aperol spritz in Italy. 

We sat in this restaurant for a good hour and a half. It had water, restrooms, and air conditioning- the trifecta we had been searching for. While here, we also planned the rest of our day in Venice, since we were only staying for the evening and leaving the next morning. We decided to book an electric boat cruise through the waterways of Venice to explore by boat rather than walking another 10 miles.

We then walked to the Jewish Ghetto (not an offensive term in Italy, it’s literally called this) and sat in the square underneath a shady tree to people-watch until our apartment was ready. Surprisingly, the square was QUITE quiet. In other squares we had been to, there were fountains and people and artists; it was quite lively. But here, the most entertaining thing we saw was the preschool letting out and parents dragging their child on a scooter behind them to get home from school. It was quite cute! 

Finally, we were able to get into our AirBnb. I think this one was the most “local” and realistic to real life for Venetians that we had seen. It felt very welcoming and normal rather than specially and modernly decorated for a guest. We were quite tired, so we decided a mid afternoon nap in the heat of the day was necessary.

Jeff took the couch in front of a fan and I took the bed (again, with only a sheet because it was so warm). We napped for an hour and a half or so before we walked around Venice a little more and found our meeting place for our boat tour.

On our way to the boat, we stopped at St. Mark’s Cathedral and a grocery store to get a snack before the boat ride. We got a fresh baguette that was less than a euro (!!!), beef sticks (that did not taste like how I hoped they would), an Apple (I MISSED having fruit, and it felt so good to have something fresh), a peach tea, and a blue Powerade. It was the perfect little appetizer to hold us over until we found a spot for dinner after the boat ride. We also saw a cute little weiner dog waiting for his owner outside the grocery store- so cute!

With snacks in hand, we walked to our meeting place and met our captain. Our tour was with 6 other people. Three were Spanish and the other 3 were American.

Our captain was very informative, and navigated the narrow waterways quite well, telling facts and stories along the way. He even explained how Jeff Bezos would be getting married in Venice the following week and how many locals were protesting. He said that over the last 20 years, their local population has dropped by 50% because of tourism. No one wants to stay and be the spectacle that everyone else is coming to observe. The locals who lived there were livid that this billionaire was coming to entertain the rich and put their village on display. It was so interesting to have a local’s perspective on an event that is highly broadcasted back in the states. 

Venice and the accompanying “islands” formed a community, with typical “town” buildings (hospital, post office, prison, cemetery, etc.)  scattered across the islands. To get around, people obviously used boats. It was quite interesting to imagine living in this way, that to get groceries, the fastest way was to take your boat across town. Because of this, and the major tourism industry, the waterways were PACKED. 

When you envision a gondola ride through the waterways of Venice, you’d imagine it being this relaxed, private, personal experience. It is not. The gondolas cram the small waterways and cannot get into the larger ones because of the larger boats with engines. Due to this and observing many gondola rides walking through Venice, we opted for the electric boat tour, which went through larger waterways and had a more complete tour. 

On our tour, we saw so many cute little apartments with their windows opened and clothes drying on lines. We saw many different types of boats, from small dinghies to huge yachts. We saw their cemetery, hospital, school, and prison. 

When we were relaxing earlier in the day, Jeffrey watched this YouTube video about how Venice was built and how their waste system works. They basically pump their waste out into the waterways, and the tide takes the solids out to sea, and the insanely salty water kills any bacteria from the liquids. So this was definitely a thought as we sailed through the water. We noticed that no one was swimming in any part of Venice, I assume for this reason. 

After our boat cruise (which felt so much shorter than it was), we walked around for a little trying to find a good restaurant for dinner. We ended up eating next to the Green Gem at a restaurant called Trattoria da Gianni. Jeff got bolognese again, I got pesto ravioli, and we shared some bread. It was okay. At this point in the trip, I was very tired of pasta, but there wasn’t really anything else that sounded good to me. The food also seemed to be more “Americanized,” with locals trying to include more dishes that would appeal to tourists. As we ate, a family near us was discerning where they should eat. They sounded American, so we asked where they were from. They were from Prince Gallitzan, Pennsylvania! We had just driven through their state park weeks previously. WILD. The father didn’t know what to do with himself. You travel halfway across the world just to meet his neighbor- crazy.

After dinner, we found a gelato place called Gelato di Natura and enjoyed a sweet treat (Jeff got vanilla chocolate chip and I got cappuccino). We made our way back to our apartment and chilled out. It was around this time that we discovered that the Italian transportation strike would take effect the next morning, affecting thousands of locals and tourists traveling, including us. As of that evening, our train was still on time for the following morning, but we frequently checked to watch for any changes. There were a couple other options that were for essential businesses that we could hop on, but if we missed them, we would be stuck in Venice for another day. We took our cold showers and settled in for the night.

Around midnight, Jeff checked our train and saw that it had been cancelled. He immediately booked the other train, and we were good to go for the morning.