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Today started off with a small snafu. Due to an accident on the bridge connecting Venice to the mainland, our local guides for our walking tour were going to be late. No worries, we wandered around Venice ourselves while we waited. We met some cute locals so it was time well spent!
Our walking tour with Diana was informative and introduced us to Venice's charms. We saw Marco Polo's house, so many bridges, churches, and of course another cat. I was glad to be out walking the city early, it was getting hotter by the minute!
Our walk ended at Ca del Sol, a traditional mask making shop. We were treated to a demo by the mask maker himself. Our group even got in on the fun! We got to see the finished products in their store front, but there was no pressure to buy. A few in our group made plans to return after the walking tour to make purchases.
The walking tour ended on Piazza San Marco. We were free for the rest of the day and evening to enjoy whatever Venetian delights we came upon. Before anything, though, lunch. Barbie, Andie, Kaysie, Nischi, Arushi, and Aisiri and I wandered into a place slightly off the beaten track. I had tortellini in a cream sauce, which was okay but it definitely wasn't a wow. Live and learn!
Our small group had all made plans to see St. Mark's Basilica later on in the afternoon. The day was hot, so I leaned into it and took a quick power nap back at the hotel.
Pro tip: don't be afraid to listen to your body, especially in the heat! Get out early and stay out late to maximize your time while keeping yourself out of the hottest part of the day.
We met up with our guide and walked over to the Basilica. We were reviewing some basic etiquette for visiting such a holy place when things suddenly went awry. A man on our Basilica tour unloaded on our poor guide, claiming the rules and dress code were made up and that they shouldn't be enforced. He even went on as far to say he was a card carrying member of the Vatican! Our guide kept her composure even as she was being screamed at. The man and his family sulked the entire tour and kept their distance from us.
Despite the distraction, St. Mark's is a beautiful church. The pictures hardly do it justice. Between the gold and mosaics and the marble and the art, it was hard to decide what to look at first. Our tour did not include the horses, so that will also be added to the "next time" list!
After our tour of St. Mark's, I met up with Kelsey for a little shopping. I also invited her along to do something on my bucket list for Venice: a cicchetti crawl. Cicchetti are little appetizers served at bars throughout Venice. There were several listed in the Rick Steves guidebook and we ate our way through many of them! Some places had seats, others were standing room only. One spot we ate standing directly on the piazza! That spot seemed to attract a local crowd, so it was cool that we got to fit into this little slice of Venetian life. We stopped for gelato on the way back to the hotel. No pictures, it was melting as fast as we could eat it!
We returned to the hotel to settle in for the night. Tomorrow we were heading for Florence and things were just heating up!
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