Flying to Venice, Italy

In my post of November 5th "Our last trip - in extremis" I explained how we almost missed going on our last trip.  In early April 2012 I had booked a cruise, round-trip flights and accommodations for a vacation in October 2012.  In July, malignant tumors had been found in my husband's bladder and we thought we would not go on this trip.  However, 6 days before our departure date the urologist gave us clearance to go ahead.  It was not much time to prepare but we were happy, both because it meant my husband's health we getting better and because we had looked forward to traveling.  On 2nd October we went to the new International Terminal of the Atlanta airport.  It is very modern and has soaring glass windows.  That day is seemed almost deserted.  It took us just a couple of minutes to go through Security.

Our flight did not depart for Paris until 9:10 pm and we had come a couple of hours early, but we did not mind waiting.  The flight was not late in departing fortunately.

 

This flight was operated by Air France and not Delta.  It left at 9:10 pm and arrived in Paris earlier than the scheduled 11:35 am the following morning.  

I like to fly with Air France because they offer better meals and free beverages.  In addition they offer French and English newspapers and magazines.  They pass a printed menu for dinner.  Drinks before dinner are offered, like aperitif or Champagne, then wine or other soft drink during the meal.  After dinner liquors like Grand Marnier are also offered, free of charge.  Click on the collage below to read the menu better. This is my husband's menu (I decided on the duck.)

 I usually drink a glass of wine with my meals at home, but rarely drink before and after dinner drinks.  But if I do drink these when I travel it certainly relaxes me.  This was going to be a long trip as we had several hours of lay-over in Paris before boarding our flight for Venice.

It felt strange for me to land in Paris and not staying there.  For years, decades really, I had flown to Paris twice a year, sometimes 3 times to visit my mother - but she is gone now.  Our flight to Venice was short; we left Paris at 3:30 pm and arrived in Venice, Marco Polo Airport, at 5:10 pm. I had found out that there was a bus from the airport going to Piazzale Roma in Venice, for only 6 Euros per person, and taking only 20 minutes to get there.  It was easy finding the bus.

Once in Venice, we were not sure how to get to our Bed and Breakfast.  I had chosen it because it was close to the bus terminal and also the cruise terminal. Their brochure said that the 10 rooms in the hotel had been recently renovated and some looked out over romantic canal del Gaffaro. Luckily I remembered that I had downloaded a little map which showed how to walk from the Piazza to the hotel.  We had to go up and down 3 bridges and with the suitcases it was not that easy.  But once at the hotel we were given a room on the second floor - just one flight of stairs.

We had made it all by ourselves!  Now we had to open the window and look at the view.

 

Goodness, how pretty!  First I looked to the right- where we had come from the bus terminal - and walked across the little bridge,

then I looked to the left

and could not believe how lovely the view was.  This was Venice, for sure!  We emptied our suitcases then went out to walk around for a while.  It was getting dark and close to dinner time

 so we decided to try the little restaurant two doors from our hotel.  It was called "La Rosa dei Venti" which means the Compass Rose.  I had meant to re-study my Italian but had not since I thought the trip would be cancelled.  I hoped my Italian would come back to me - it did, but I did not have to use it often as most people in shops and restaurants spoke English.

We were pleased to see that there were many local Venetian patrons in the restaurant and not just tourists.  We decided on the special of the day, which was: a salad and spaghetti with cuttle fish and calamari for 12 Euros each.  I was surprised to see the black spaghetti but realized it was the "ink" from the cuttle fish (seppia.)  We had a glass of "Proseco" with the meal.  It was very good.

We finished the meal with a lemon tart, then it was a short walk back to our hotel.  The canal was now quite dark and it looked like the gondolier was hurrying his ride - at least it went too fast by me for a clear picture.

This was our first day in Venice, and we had four more to go - so much to see and experience! Tomorrow should be another warm day...

Scene a Venise, painted by Lucien Levy-Dhurmer, French 1865-1953

more posts to come on Venice...eventually.