Venice - Day 3

Monday - Basically, a free day today. Nothing planned except Bridget’s trip to an Italian yarn shop. We then crossed on the Rialto Bridge to the less touristy part of Venice and gradually worked our way back. 

Lots of bell towers, and most of them had a lean to them unless they were attached to another building. One of the surprises was discovering Eduroam WiFi access points. This is a widespread WiFi access utilizing credentials from your “home” institution. In my case, the University of Alaska. Pretty cool (imho)!

The views down the canals are still not getting old. These are all water taxis as the gondolas are more common in the tourist areas. At least that’s what we were told by the extremely helpful hotel reception desk. 

We stopped for a snack, double espresso and lemon gelato, and had a great view of all the boat traffic. 

Near the University, we passed a gondola repair shop. Along this walk, we also passed hardware stores, grocery shops, and electronics stores. In the tourist areas, it’s all high end fashion brands and souvenir shops. 

We crossed the Grand Canal at the Ponte dell'Accademia, a wooden bridge near the university, and headed back towards the hotel. Over 9,000 steps. We are getting our exercise in around here. 

Would I return to Venice or is it a one and done? It’s a beautiful city though very expensive. I think the property and rent prices drive up the cost for everything. Dinner ranges from €60 to €100 and the breakfast buffet at the hotel was €30. Bridget decided to pass on the ultra-tourist gondola ride. For me, it’s between a one and done and I’ll return. We’ll see at the end of the trip as this is the only part of Italy I’ve seen…