From Vienna to Venice (may 18|19)

From Vienna we flew to Venice getting in to the airport around 8 PM. However it was after 11 when we were through bussing, water bussing, and finding our hotel after lugging our bags back and forth over big pedestrian bridges that cross the canals. We were happy to check into our hotel room and go for a very late supper. This was the first delicious meal in Italy and everything since has continued on that trend.

The next day we got up and took a water taxi out to the nearby island of Murano to watch a glass blowing demonstration. The taxi ride made us feel very glamorous, going through canals in the sunshine. We were to take the water bus back to Venice but ended up stuck waiting for quite a while. Venice was hosting a leg of the Americas Cup which resulted in numerous water bus lines being closed for the races. Unfortunately, there was nothing saying that the lines were closed (even the scrolling schedules still listed the departure times) so we ended waiting for a bus that wasn't going to arrive for some tie before deciding to hop the next available bus and walk from where ever it let us off.

On the bright side, it gave us a reason to wander the streets of Venice and pick up a souvenir or two.

We only had the one day in Venice so the next morning we got up, repacked again, and headed for the water bus. Having some extra time, we decided to catch the bus that takes the longer route down the grand canal. Of course, this was one of the lines that was affected by the 4 man gondola races that morning so we were stuck in a growing crowd of people all wondering where the water bus was and how badly it was going to be delayed. We were a little nervous as the delay grew, but ended up with about 20 minutes to spare (plenty of time for a train) and got to see a part of one of the races.