glutton [gluht-n]
a person who eats and drinks excessively or voraciously; a person with a remarkably great desire or capacity for something
Synonyms include: overeater, gourmand, pleasure-seeker, epicurean

I know that each city, no matter what part of the world you're in, has something special to offer. But there's a mysticism about Venice that I can't describe. Maybe it's all the food we ate! Hahaha, just kidding. In all seriousness though, it's one of the most unique places I've ever been to. Being there felt surreal at best.

Mission #5 - Maneuver our way through baffling Venice streets

(Whilst we try to eat ourselves to death. Seriously though,

just check out how many times we ate and drank in a span of 24 hours)
Point of Origin - Lugano, Switzerland

Destination - Venice, Italy

I realized that I certainly do attract guys...guys 3 years old and under, apparently. This cute little boy was walking by while we were waiting for our train and when I saw him, I waved and said, "Ciao!" And he stopped to kick it.

His jacket was zipped up and buttoned up so tightly that he could hardly move. Hahaha! So hilarious but so adorable!

So, off we go to the next city on our tour. We took one train from Lugano to Milano Centrale, and then switched trains at Milano per Venezia. These were train #'s 3 & 4 on our trip so far.
Before we crossed the Swiss-Italian border, these men in uniform walked through the train checking passports. It was a little creepy, truth be told, guns in their holsters. And after we crossed, a new set of officers (Italian ones), walked through to do the same thing.
I tried not to fall asleep during the train ride. The view outside varied, from mountains covered with green grass, to nearly decrepid apartment buildings with clothes hanging from the balconies, to old churches in the background. I had to write everything down! The train was, byfar, my favorite place to write while we were there. There's something about sitting still and watching the world move by you, instead of the other way around.
Yay, we're finally here! From the train station to our hotel, we have to take what's called a "vaporetto." It's basically a water bus. "Se biglietti per favore!" (6 tickets please!)

We all just kind of stood in the vaporetto, half excited and half in complete disbelief, watching Venetians and tourists in harmonious commute. City people in the states take subways through underground tunnels, buses through one-way streets, cars through 5-lane highways. People in Venice ride boats to get around. I love it!
Hey Joe, Iya & Riann, CALL US CRAZY but look what we found! Crazy Pizza in Venice! Hahaha!
We arrived in Venice at around 4:00 so, naturally, we're starving. Heaven forbid we should go 3 hours without eating. So we ventured through the maze that is Venice. Cile and Kay were our shepherds, guiding us along, never letting us get lost. At one point that evening though, they were looking at a map and then exclaimed, "This way!" while they pointed in two different directions. It was classic!

We had dinner at this place called Piccolo Martini. Again with our house wine, vino rosso de la casa, per favore. Although, we didn't really need to speak Italian there because all the servers were Asian! The heck? Here's Nonna trying to pour wine in everyone's glasses...before she poured it on Pat's sleeve. Hahaha! I did the same later on so I should shut it.

First full day in Venice - time for our morning calisthenics in front of the Basilica di San Marco. What did we do for exercise during vacation? JUMP!!!

This is us doing the "Anna-jump." I was a cheerleader, this is how I jump. Yay Venice!

Breakfast - tre cappunini e tre caffe latte, per favore! Aaah, I miss trying to speak Italian!
Why do I look like I'm twelve years old in this picture?!

Just look at this place! I can't imagine living here and doing anything but daydream!...and write of course. Wake up...daydream...write...take a walk...write...
...daydream...go home...write...you catch my drift I'm sure. It's such a strange place, Venice. I wouldn't mind going back there and just sitting somewhere to people watch. Our hotel lady, Donatella, told us how slow life is over there. Honestly, sometimes I wish life was that way over here.
This is the Basilica di Santa Maria di Salute in Dorsoduro (one of Venice's 6 neighborhoods). It was built...a long time ago in honor of Mary after the city had been relieved of a terrible plague. "Salute" means "health" in Italian. Hence, when people toast, "Salute!" they're basically saying, "To your health!"

Yes, we literally did light candles at every church we went into. This was actually the FIRST church we visited on our trip.

We even managed to walk into the middle of a mass. I found myself standing by the side, kind of praying to myself. Next you know, tears are flowing from my eyes like no one's business. I wasn't sad - I was happy. Cheesy as all this sounds to you all, I was just so thankful that day for my life.

Ooooh gelato! Check our Randy double-fisting it! Hahaha! We literally had gelato at least once a day! YOU JUST CAN'T HELP IT! There's a gelato place everywhere you turn!

We walked around the corner and ran into this bacaro, that's "wine bar." Venetians go to wine bars to have a snack or two before lunch.
They have all these appetizer type things called "cichetti" and you can choose a variety to munch on with your glass of wine. Well, when in Venice...

...do as the Venetians do. So we ate a couple plates of cichetti, had some glasses of wine and aqua frizzante (sparkling water) and then went on our way.

We walked around for maybe another hour or two, rather enjoying the disorientation and, well, we got hungry again. I know geez! So we sat outside this quaint little cafe in San Polo (another one of Venice's neighborhoods) and had some paninis and...more wine. I think it was about 1:00 in the afternoon by the time we got to this point.

After eating, we got back on our way and found ourselves at the Ponte di Rialto (the Rialto Bridge), which crosses the Grand Canale. It's the grandest bridge in Venice, where you will find merchants lined all the way across, selling everything from fans to jewelry to silk ties, etc. You name it, it's probably sold on the Rialto.

We went back to the hotel to rest after our full day and then decided to look for this Osteria that Giada (from the Food Network) visited on her tv show. We actually followed Giada and Rachael Ray's shows quite a bit on our trip. It's good to have guidance.

The guy who took our picture is Gigi, who Giada was all buddy-buddy with on the show. The place was getting ready to close for siesta but we made it just in time. What's the eating count so far? hahaha! But it had the freshest seafood on one plate! I wish I hadn't eaten 90 minutes before. Then I would've finished my food! There was some meat stuff, octopus...ummm what else? Just lots of stuff that I've never eaten but was the tastiest thing I'd had!

After we ate (again), we took a stroll through the Piazza di San Marco where all the flying rats seemed to be doing the same. Solution? Break out that umbrella!

Here's the only Chinese restaurant we saw in Venice. It's all tucked into this long alley. Aaaw, kawawa...

What? Another gelato break? So soon? hahahaha! I love it! We could've bled gelato and wine over there for real.

Hey James, look what we found! Hotel Canada! Maybe we can all stay here next time!

For our last dinner in Venice, we ate at a restaurant called A La Madonna. When you travel, it's nice to experience things you wouldn't normally do at home. Take Randy here, for example, enojoying his sea bass (which they de-boned for him). He doesn't even eat fish here but he loved this!
Here's Nonna ("grandma" in Italian) having her fish soup. It was a comforting thing to have since it was freezing outside.
I believe Chef had some steak. No frills; just the meat cut, seasoned and cooked to perfection, plus lemon and his regular side of spinach. Seong seriously had a -gasm every single time we sat down to eat. Italy was like the mothership calling him home.

Cile had some lobster. Geez, look at that thing!

Pat had some tender steak as well. See how nice and plain the plate is? No fries, no salad, no garnish - just the food. Sometimes that's all you need.
The best lasagna I've ever tasted!! The pasta literally melted in my mouth, the cheese wasn't chewy and the sauce was just right. The waiter offered me parmesan cheese, but I've never been a big fan so I kindly said, "No grazie." He was like, "are you SURE?!" Seong and Randy were like, "Dude, it's not Kraft - eat it with the cheese!"

Cile packed and re-packed her suitcase every single time we left a city and Venice was no exception. Her system of re-packing goes something like this: empty suitcase by throwing everything on the floor....lie down and take a break...fall asleep..."I'll finish it later." hahaha!
Chef Seong at the fish market is like a kid in a candy store! He was running around all over the place, taking pictures of every type of sea animal you could fry, sautee or broil!

Europeans are all about their mini elevators. We had to go downstairs one by one! It's literally the size of a closet!

Ciao Venezia!

Andiamo a Firenze!