Enchanting Venice

Venice - a fascinating, unique city, with streets of water, and holding a charm that cannot be explained. We could not believe it when we stepped out of the Venezia Santa Lucia train station on Wednesday evening (Sept. 7); it was as if we were stepping into an enchanted land.

"Venice is a collection of 118 islands, most of them separated from each other by narrow canals but linked by hundreds of small bridges. Cutting an "S" through that checkerboard is the relatively wide Canal Grande. Venice is located in a shallow lagoon, protected from the Adriatic by a narrow strip of land known as the Lido." (Italy: spend less see more)

There are no motor vehicles in Venice, and to get around you need to travel on water. Right after arriving there, we purchased our 72-hour vaparetto (water bus) passes for 33 euro each. Good for unlimited water travel around the islands for the three days that we would spend in Venice. 

We jumped aboard for our first vaparetto ride to the island of Giudecca, on the southern side of the maze of islands, to find our place of lodging for the next three nights. We had searched the internet for reasonable lodging in this very expensive city, and were so happy to find a place right on the islands instead of back on the mainland. It was like living in a dreamworld for the next three days ...

Approaching the beautiful island of Giudecca, where we would stay during our days in Venice ...

We stepped off the vaparetto, with all our luggage, met our very gracious and friendly Italian hostess, Caterina, and walked right along the water's edge with her, towards our apartment (vacation rental by owner). A spacious, comfortable apartment set off the main walkway, with an inner courtyard garden - beautiful!

After settling in and making a quick trip to the neighborhood food store, we took the vaparetto back to the main train station to meet our son, Lance! So exciting to meet up with him in Venice! He came into the main station area with his luggage in tow, looking happy and excited, well-tanned from his previous month of travels through England and France. We felt like we were in a storybook - meeting up with our youngest son in the enchanting city of Venice.

The next day the three of us took off to explore the islands - by waterbus, and on foot. A day we will never forget - everywhere we turned there was beauty; our eyes could hardly take it in. Our cameras were clicking constantly, trying to capture the indescribable charm of this city and land. What an incredible gift to be here on our 40th Anniversary - and to be able to see it together with Lance.