Day 12: Drive to Venice

storm clouds and CORN! ha. (we don't have corn on the cob down here..) road leading into Venice

Day 12 of our Trip back in August.. for anyone just catching up.. I kept a journal while on travel and will print these to some day show the girls. So bare with me as it can be lengthy!
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We packed out and D drove my parents to the Garmisch (Germany) train station to say goodbye. It was sad but we will soon see them all the time! We were admittedly sad to leave the cool weather, bright green landscape and return to a Sicilian summer. Sicily is gorgeous and full of flowers in the spring; however, with no rain and 100 degree temps it is pretty dead, hot, and brown until Halloween! It was raining, 49 degrees, and cloudy this morning. We left how we came in! We were so lucky to have awesome weather this week.

The autostrada is easy and smooth to fllow, just as interestates in the states. While you're on it, it is actually easy to forget you are in Europe. As soon as we crossed out of Austria into Italy we saw the crazy driving, disgusting rest stops, people parking anywhere they want to and not following any rules! Ahh to be 'home'.

Luckily it is still pretty cool up here. We'd heard Venice would be awful and stinky but it's very mild in comparison to Sicily. The autostrada dead ends into the cruise ports and parking lots so it was very easy to navigate. 20 euro a day puts your car in a nice covered parking garage. We felt safe leaving our car there. You can hop a water taxi right there for 6.50 euro/single ride. I believe under 5 yrs rides free. No one ever checks your tickets that we've seen but apparently it's a hefty fine if someone happens to check that day so you should get the ticket. (A good judge of character is someone who does the right thing when no one is looking, right?) :)

We rode down the grand canal and got off at San Marco's Piazza. Unfortunately it was pouring rain and going over bridges with luggage and a stroller while holding umbrellas really stunk. The girls were crying and I stupidly wore flip flops with worn down traction on the soles so I was sliding all over the cobblestone streets and clinging to the buildings. It was absolutely ridiculous.

We found our hotel fairly quickly. We stayed at the Hotel Bisanzio- Best Western about a block from San Marco and right near the water at the mouth of the Grand Canal. It's a decent sized room with a double bed and 2 portacribs for the kids. There were exposed beams in the ceiling and atleast, a/c!

After baths, we went to eat at a restaurant recommended by the man at the front desk of our hotel. It was a few blocks from San Marco square. I wish I could remember the name of it. I think we spent 45 euro for a caraf of house wine, water, pasta for me, pizza for D. It's pricier than things in Sicily, but we knew that going in. I had expected it to be a bit worse actually!

We pretty much went back to our hotel and to bed after that since it was raining and we were tired. I'll have more a lot pics to share on day 13 & 14. It was hard to take anything decent with pouring rain off and on!