Day 3 ~ Venice

We took the hotel shuttle into Venice this morning since we are staying on the mainland about 15 minutes from the city. We began the day with breakfast and some simple wandering around, stopped at a few shops, took photos, and enjoyed the beautiful little details that abound in this amazing city.

Venice Garden 

Vines on an old building

We stopped for a quick lunch in Campo Santo Stefano then headed out for a gondola ride, Sarah’s highlight of the day. We went across the Grand Canal and through some of the smaller canals west of Saint Mark’s and it was incredible. Our Gondolier was friendly and funny and spoke enough English to give us some history of Venice and tell us about all of the interesting sights.

Us on the Gondola

Gondola approaching a Venice bridge

The Galleria Dell’ Academia was right around the corner from where we were dropped off so we decided to visit there next. They were running a temporary exhibit on sketches by Leonardo Da Vinci with lots of interesting details about his life and work that are rarely seen. His paintings and final inventions are widely publicized but this gave a glimpse into all of the preparation required for him to produce all of that amazing work. By the time we came out it was almost sunset so we headed towards St. Marks Square.

Venetian spires at sunset

From there we wandered north toward the Rialto Bridge, grabbing some dinner on the way. After dinner we checked out the Rialto Bridge we made a few final purchases and wound our way back through the maze of canals and pathways to catch the bus to the hotel after a fun, long and tiring day.

Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge at night

Happy Halloween and good night!

Day 2 ~ More Verona and Zenato Winery

Today we woke early to investigate our rental car situation, which, was ultimately successful when we accidentally found it by giving up after an hour long search. We then had some delicious filled croissants for breakfast and proceeded to the Castello Vecchio museum. The castle was built in the 14th century and turned into a museum shortly after WWII. The castle was amazing and the museum had a lot of wonderful paintings from all over Italy (but mainly the Verona area) dating from 1200-1800, as well as some great artifacts from the castle's military history.

Bridge over Adige River to Castello Vecchio, Verona

We then headed to Verona's Duomo to take a peek inside. A classic example of an Italian cathedral, and very wonderful, sadly no photos worth posting but it is a must see if you are ever in Verona. We then booked it to pick up the rental car before they closed for lunch, grabbed some panini on the way and grabbed our bags from the hotel.

Next we were off to the Zenato Winery in San Benadetto, but when we arrived early we decided to take a drive further out the peninsula where we indulged in some gelato and took a short walk along the shores of Lago di Garda.

Upon arriving at Zenato we were greetted by Mateo who gave us a wonderful tour and led us through a tasting of six of their wonderful wines: a sparkling Lugana, Lugana, Corvina Merlot blend, Ripasso, Amarone Classico, and Rigoletto Lugana dessert wine. Sarah is looking forward to bringing some of these into the restaurant to share with friends and regulars.

Zenato Logo on a wine cask

Old wine press

Half of Zenato family's personal wine cellar

We left Zenato for Venice, stopped for dinner, got a bit lost then finally found our hotel thanks to some cryptic Italian instructions from a nice old local involving lots of hand motions. Off to bed so we can get more exploring in tomorrow!

Lights on the A4 Autostrada

Verona ~ Rain and Gelato

Italy Day 1 ~ Verona

After leaving Montana at 6:30 am, over 6000 miles of flying and almost 20 hours later we arrived in Milan at 5:30am the tuesday. As I write this we are running on less than 6 hours of sleep in the past 52 hours and both of us are very tired but forcing ourselves to stay awake to adjust better.

Backtracking now, after clearing customs in Milan we took the train from the airport to Milano Centrale train station, and hopped a train to fair Verona-quite literally since we forgot to validate our ticket. Lucky the nice conductor only gave us a wag of the finger. We found our hotel easily, and after we got settled in and cleaned up we were off to explore. Check the photo evidence.

View from our hotel window

Steps in Verona Arena (think Rome's Colosseum but still in use!)

Fossils in the Verona Arena's steps

Umbrella's in Juliet's Balcony Courtyard

Our Dinner view on Piazza Delle Erbe

That's all for tonight, off to bed so we can get back at it early tomorrow!