March 2017 – All the Joie

Shameless plug: photos from both Florence and Venice are now featured in my Etsy shop, which is linked above.

Last week, I shared our trip report for Florence. After Florence, we headed to Venice for a few days.

We booked our train ticket a month or so in advance through Trentitalia, but that really wasn’t necessary. The high speed train system in Italy is surprisingly easy and efficient, and we probably could’ve shown up and booked tickets the day of. We also got to the train station way too early, and we were those silly tourists, staring at the board, waiting for our track to post.

Even still, the train ride was effortless, and it was actually nice to have a couple hours of down time. Sona slept; I snacked and stared out the window.

When we arrived in Venice, we did the thing you probably shouldn’t do if you’re smart and trying to save a little money: we hired a private water taxi to get to our hotel. There are certainly cheaper ways to go about that, but I really wanted to enter Venice with a bang–and see it from the water, for the first time, in a way that was comfortable and special. But if we did it again, I’d just hop a Vaporetto, especially since our hotel–Cima Rosa–was just a couple of stops away from the train station.

Though, that 10-minute ride was awe-inspiring. I have to say: Sona and I have traveled quite a bit, and we’ve seen many a wondrous location, but I rarely have the immediate mouth-agape, eyes-wide reaction to Europe that I do to places in the Caribbean. What can I say? I’m a gal who is inspired by water. But the second we stepped into the water taxi and caught sight of the Grand Canal, my jaw dropped. Literally.

The water taxi hadn’t even started moving when I started snapping photos. I must have taken 50 photos in those 10 minutes, including all of these:

I must have mistakenly thought that I was getting a limited opportunity to capture Venice’s beauty, but then I realized that there is no spot in Venice–no alley you wonder down, no canal you cross–that isn’t every bit as charming and captivating and lovely as that first 10 minute ride. Venice is, inch for inch, the prettiest place we’ve ever been, and it is a photographer’s dream. You just can’t take a bad photo.

We stayed at Cima Rosa, which bills itself as a boutique B&B. It is housed in a centuries-old building and has less than 10 rooms. It felt really intimate, as there are less than 10 rooms. We snagged a room right on the Grand Canal, which gave us an incredible view and was uber romantic. Probably the most romance-inspiring place we’ve ever stayed, actually.

Cima Rosa is just slightly outside of the tourist-driven area of Venice, which was perfect for us. It is in a neighborhood that is quiet and feels residential; it’s also centrally located, which gave us the opportunity to explore much of Venice.

During our days there, we walked and walked and walked. We explored virtually every corner of the city, branching out to all parts of the islands and walking through every major neighborhood. It was worth all of the blisters, though, because each neighborhood had its own personality, and–as is true in pretty much any place on the planet–the most interesting spots weren’t necessarily the ones the guidebooks told us about.

In fact, our favorite day in Venice–and maybe of the whole trip–was the one designed by the receptionist at our B&B, who wrote us out a walking tour of her neighborhood–Dorsoduro–including her favorite spots to eat, shop, etc. That’s the artistic district of Venice, and it’s also where the university is. So, it’s young, hip, and local. We really, really loved it–so much so that we went back on our last day.

One of our concerns about Venice stemmed from the fact that lots of folks told us how hard it would be to find good eats, as so much is geared towards locals, but we didn’t find that to be true at all. With a little research–and walking–you’ll find plenty of yumminess, including a lot of cicchetti, which is the tradition of Venetian small bites. Most cicchetti are various toppings–spreads, fish, etc.–on slices of bread. ALL of them are delicious and affordable. Venetians eat cicchetti much in the same way that the Spanish eat tapas: as small bites, accompanied by an aperitif, before dinner. We ate them before–and after–lots of meals.

On our last day, we did what anyone must do on their first trip to Venice, stereotypes be damned: we took a gondola ride. We deliberately timed it to be right before sunset, and we asked not to go on the Grand Canal. This left us meandering through the blissfully quiet small canals. It was worth every penny, at $80 for 40 minutes, because Venice was really meant to be seen from the water, and we wanted to have that experience before we left.

Do I even have to tell you how much we enjoyed Florence and Venice? I don’t think so. Sometimes, we go to a place and leave, thinking “That was wonderful, but it is on to somewhere new!” And sometimes, you come home from a place, and you find yourself daydreaming about it, wishing you could do the trip all over, again.

I’ve spent every day since Italy wishing that we were back in Italy.

Our Venice Faves and Recommendations:

our hotel, Cima Rosa
a gondola tour–but not on the Grand Canal
the Peggy Guggenheim museum
a day spent exploring Dorsoduro, including exploring the artist shops along S. Barnaba
cicchetti at Osteria Al Squero and Vino gia Schiavi
frito misto and pasta (we loved the arrabiata) at Fried Land (just trust me on this one)
dinner at Osteria Anice Stellato
an early morning walk through the Rialto Market
chocolate souvenirs at Vizo Virtu
sandwiches and pastries at Rosa Salva (the one by the hospital)
a walk through the Libreria Acqua Alta bookstore
wine at Vino Vero, sitting along the canal
gelato at Grom
an evening spent drinking on one of the local squares
pizza at Muro Frari

It’s been a little over a month since my last post, and I could blame that on being unusually busy, but I’m beginning to realize that being unusually busy is our new usual.

Amidst the busyness, though, Sona and I managed to sneak away for an 8-day getaway to Italy–sans Finn.

It was our first alone trip since he was born, and before I go into too much detail about all the ways in which it was absolutely wonderful, soul-satisfying, and marriage-restoring, let me just give you the short of it: IT IS NOT ONLY OKAY, BUT ALSO TOTALLY IMPORTANT, THAT PARENTS TAKE SOME TIME AWAY FROM THEIR KIDS.

We were very lucky that my mom and step-dad–Mimi and Pops–were willing to sacrifice a week of their own vacation time to come up to Chicago and take care of our little man. We really wanted him to stay in our home. First, because we thought he needed as much stability as possible in the very fragile state we’d assumed he’d be in without us (more on that, later) and, also, because driving to and from Tennessee would shave a couple of days off of our own vacay time.

Italy has been on our must-visit list for a LONG time. And we figured that if we had a chance to escape without any toddler, we might as well go somewhere that would be difficult with him. It’s not that doing Europe with Finn would be impossible (though, the thought does terrify me), it’s just that doing it the way we’d want to do it–wandering aimlessly for hours, drinking a lot of wine, lounging carelessly at a variety of sidewalk cafes–would be impossible with him. Having him would have totally changed the nature of the trip, and we wanted to remember what it was like to be wanderlust-y and carefree–without a baby.

Though, as the trip date approached, Sona and I were feeling so tired and depleted that we found ourselves secretly wishing that we’d just booked a lazy trip to the Caribbean–one in which we wouldn’t feel guilty sleeping on a beach chair all day.

And even though we did run from sun-up to sun-down each day, walking a total of 50+ miles while we were gone (according to our iPhones) and exploring every inch of both Florence and Venice, it was completely worth it. The trip gave us a small glimpse into our pre-baby lives. That was a time that we wouldn’t trade for now–because, of course, Finn is our sun and our moon–but it was nice to remember who we were to each other before we were moms. We felt more connected to each other than we have in a long time, and that was really because we had one luxury that we don’t have very often, anymore: uninterrupted and responsibility-free time.

As for Finn, he couldn’t have cared less about our absence. I mean, he cared so little that we were actually a little hurt. Couldn’t he have just pretended that he was devastated? Thrown just a few tantrums, thrashing his legs and screaming for “momma”?! Truth was, Mimi and Pops did such a good job giving him completely undivided attention that he was happy as a clam and hardly noticed that we were away.

That is to say, I think the week apart was good for all of us.

Now… Florence! We started in Florence and ended in Venice, which when we asked around, were the two Italian cities that folks seemed to have enjoyed the most. If we’d had a few more days, we would’ve crammed Rome into the itinerary, too, but we didn’t want to over-tax ourselves. (And we really wanted a lot of time for wine and gelato.)

In Florence, we rented an apartment, which is what we generally prefer, as it helps us live more like locals for a few days–and is usually nicer, roomier, and cheaper than a hotel. Our apartment was right around the corner fro Ponte Vecchio–the main attraction in Florence. That put us smack dab in the middle of the two sides of the city separated by the Arno river–one that is more touristy and one that is more geared towards the locals. We enjoyed exploring both.

Florence was a great city to wander and eat in–which are the two things we did the most. Walk. Sit. Drink. Eat. Repeat. That was how we spent those four glorious days. We did a good bit of noshing, rather than elaborate multi-course meals, and it proved to be the best way to experience–and taste–much of what the city had to offer.

We also ate gelato at least twice a day. So, there’s that.

It was in the mid-60s most of the time we were there. So, while it got a little chilly at night, I really enjoyed being able to explore all day without getting too hot. We lucked out with the weather, and it was sunny during our entire visit. That made wandering a lot more enjoyable.

Of course, we did many of the requisite Florence things: we went to see David at dell’Accademia, walked through the Uffizi galleries, rubbed the nose of the lucky boar, and explored the Boboli Gardens.

We also did an all-day private tour of the Tuscan countryside, which included stops in the medieval towns of Montalcino and Pienza, a wine tour and tasting, a visit to some Roman baths, and an awe-inspiring lunch at a local farm.

But really, the days we enjoyed most were the ones when we didn’t have anything on the docket–days when we just set out, grabbed a latte (or two), ate, and walked, and ate some more.

Those are the kinds of days we miss the most–and the kind that were the most restorative.

Next stop, Venice!

Our Florence Faves and Recommendations: