An Italy Trip to Remember

Italy Trip – 2024 – Rome

Day 14–We Arrive in Venice!

A cab to the train station to meet our Frecciarossa (high-speed) train to Venice was the order of the day.

Magical Venice: After two and a half hours, we arrived on time in Venice to finalize our Italy trip to remember. Venice, the city with canals for roads, and surprises around every corner and over every bridge. We quickly found a water-taxi to our hotel, Hotel Firenze.

Hotel Firenze is another centrally-located hotel just minutes from St. Mark’s Square. Again, it was moderately-priced, easily-accessible, and authentically appointed. (Ron: Jane needs a huge round of applause for the time and energy over several months putting together this trip to remember! Great hotels; great tours; and mostly, great restaurants!)

Cicchette Tour: After a lunch in St. Mark’s Square and another siesta from the 100 degree heat, we walked to the Rialto Bridge to meet Alessandro, our guide for our cicchetti tour.

Alessandro is highly-rated by Rick Steves for his lively, informative introduction to the strictly Venetian street food , cicchetti. Cicchetti are little bite-size snacks sold by the number of toothpicked specialties you choose.

Peppered by Alessandro’s lively conversation, six of us wandered the back streets of Venice, sampling such specialties as calamari, rice balls, and toast with local salami. We also met Gus and Rachel, a newly-engaged couple from Michigan, who are moving to California to start his career as an ER doc.

Wandering through the streets of Venice, we found the Accademia Bridge and wandered across it. By this time, the heat was almost unbearable and the walk was exhaustive. To return to the St. Mark’s area and their tour of the Basilica,

Day 15–Venice on Our Own

Exploring Venice: Vern and Jill bravely took the Traghetto, a gondola ride across the canal, costing 2 Euros each. Ron and I waved goodbye and continued our trek, ending at the Gondola Workshop in Squero San Trevaso in the Zattere District.

There we had lunch on the waterfront and caught the vaporetto (waterbus) back to our hotel as well. After much-needed showers and a rest from the heat, we headed out on a cooler evening to find pizza from Napoli (Naples) with the thick crust, contrasting with thin-crusted Roman pizza. Of course, all our treks are peppered with shopping, laughs, and our very rudimentary Italian. Ciao!

Day 16–Burano!–Our last day, or so we thought!

Burano, what a great island: The vaporetto to Burano was to leave at 9:15, and we made it, barely at 9:13. It was a long ride but well worth it, to arrive at the colorful, quaint island of Burano, known for its handmade lace and even for a Hallmark movie, The Wedding Veil Unveiled (2022).

This was Jill’s happy place, where she dreamed of opening an optical shop with Vernon to sell exams, eyeglasses and cases, in retirement. It reminded her of her childhood in Cape Cod and her heart was at peace.

The ever present lady at the lace shop in Burano

We were able to visit our little lace-making friend for the third time! This lady sits all day demonstrating lace-making and has for 23 years. We showed her our pictures of her from 2015 and 2023, and she was thrilled. Jill was able to purchase a spectacular tablecloth for herself and handkerchiefs for the future weddings of her granddaughters.

Our trip to Italy was almost over, and a fitting end, was to visit El Gatto Nero (the black cat), a Michelin-recognized restaurant, to end our journey.

Jill, Jane, and Vernon enjoyed Spaghetti ala Vongole (Spaghetti with Clams) and Ron had Frutti de Mare (Seafood Stew), and fresh sea bass, which he shared with all. It was then time to catch the vaporetto back to St Mark’s Square at night.

Then it was dancing in St. Mark’s Square, after our long waterbus ride, home to pack for our trip back to the states.

Trip Extended: WAIT! We are not heading back home right away. ‘Venice to Newark’ – CANCELLED! Whoops! Vernon and Jill just got out via Frankfort, Germany, but Ron and I were too late, and we extended our stay 2 more days at Hilton Garden Inn where we have stayed before.

We tried. 140 euros on water taxi to the airport; standing in line for a couple of hours waiting with other ‘cancelled fliers’; finally talking with United and – NOTHING. So, taxi to Hilton and 2 days of just relaxing. Had to call United to get Ron’s ‘award’ ticked changed to $$$$ and we were set, Venice to Portland, via Newark.

However, even though the ending was a bit of a mess, we truly enjoyed our trip with the Shibata’s. Italy is our ‘2nd home’ and we will miss it. Looks like this is our last trip with Ron ‘going on 80’! …………. NOT!!

Memories, memories and more memories! The Shibata’s enjoyed their trip and so did we, from Rome, to Tuscany, to Florence and ending up in Venice. Thanks Vernon and Jill for a great vacaton!