Our hotel includes a breakfast buffet in the room fee, so we headed down and were happy to fill up on jam-filled croissants, fruit, and yogurt (me) and cured meats, an assortment of cheeses, and olives (Tyler) plus some great coffee.  Then we headed out to walk down along the grand canal towards St Mark’s Square.  Climbing up a bridge and seeing Venice stretching out ahead of you is indescribable – it’s breathtaking.  The air was clean, mild and fresh off the water, the sky was gleaming blue, and every building looks unique.  To my left, the Grand canal, buzzing with boats, and as I walked over bridges, to my right was waterway after waterway, flanked by tall, warm buildings with large square windows.

We passed the Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of sighs) along the way – built in 1602, legend says it’s called this because it was the way to get to an old prison, and the prisoners would sigh on seeing this limestone, white washed arch, their last view of the beautiful city before being taken away to their cells.

We arrived at Piazza San Marco next, to start our walking tour.  This square is huge and the details on every building in intricate and gorgeous.  We lingered here for awhile, admiring the pink and white tiles on the Palazzo Ducale, the tall red spire of the bell tower, and of course, St. Mark’s Basilica.

It’s hard to walk around with your head tilted upwards, mouth gaping, taking it all on, without bumping into someone but you can’t help it.  I know this is one of the most amazing places my eyes will ever see. I have to use photos – I can’t even start to describe the immaculate details, from the marble, the carvings, and the gilded figures inlaid in gold, but I can see why this creation would have taken 800 years to complete.

After feasting our eyes on these amazing buildings,  we headed out into the city towards the Rialto bridge and made a bunch of stops along the way.  Following the walking guide was a bit tricky, but we managed to stick to it for the most part and checked out more churches and sights along the way, ducking down narrow alleyways, crossing lacy bridges, all the while green water glowing under our feet.

We made it to the Rialto bridge, and took some time drinking in the views from one side, then the other before walking down to keep going through the Rialto neighbourhood.

We passed through the Rialto market, bursting with fresh produce, and peeked at the fish on display in the Pescaria, then stopped in a sunny square to rest our feet and grab a beer (Tyler) and some raspberry gelato(me) to enjoy while basking on the steps of a small bridge. Around the side of a church, we could hear the strains of an accordion floating in the air, the flutter of pigeon wings, and happy voices calling out to each other as people passed by.

After finishing our up our walk, we headed back towards Rialto and stopped for a late lunch at Al Pesador that featured carpaccio to start, pasta, more music, and an amazing view of the Grand canal.

Then we re-traced our steps back to the hotel for a mid-afternoon rest – we’d earned it!

On our quick flight from Zurich to Venice, I fought sleep in my window seat to take in spectacular views of the mountains (“The hiiiillls are aliiiiive, without he sound of music…” was in my head the while time!), and they also gave out small bites of delicious Swiss chocolate before landing.

Once we touched down, we located our baggage quickly (always a relief!) and walked around for a bit before asking at the tourist booth how to take the water bus (vaporetto) to our hotel. We bought tickets inside the terminal, headed out into the sunshine and turned left, following a path that lead us to a floating dock. We waited there, watching another tourist excitedly film his girlfriend (“We’re in Venice!! Are you excited?” he asked. “I’m sleepy,” she replied) and then boarded the blue line ferry that churned through the muddy water towards Venice. I dozed a bit, but after an hour or so, we finally pulled up to our stop around noon: Arsenale, and disembarked.

Luckily, our hotel was about 5 minutes away over 1 short bridge, and we checked in, took a quick walk while they made up our room, checked in and decided to take a quick nap to make up for not sleeping all night – which turned into 6 hours. I felt a lot better afterwards, and our hotel is pretty, clean, and has a great view of the grand canal, this immense body of sparkling green water flanked by ships and boats, with wood planks poking up every few meters.

We ventured out to get some dinner, and thought we’d take a walk through our new neighbourhood. Castello, and check it out a bit. On first impression, it’s amazing. Around 6pm, the buildings were drenched in sunlight, and the yellow and orange bricks and sun-baked stones were so beautiful. Plus, walking up and down bridges all the time gave me a nice vantage point to survey my surroundings and try to take it all in.

We wandered through a series of narrow alleyways, twisting and turning, flowers blooming form every windmill and strings of laundry floating in the fresh air stretching above our heads, and then got back out to the main street and popped into a little place to order a pizza each. The server brought us a Spritz as well – this red drink that looks fruity but is white wine, sparkling water and some kind of bitter alcohol (neither of us really liked it much, but the vino was excellent!)

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel with the thought of putting on warmer clothes and walking around, but I laid down on the bed for a quick second and the next thing I knew it was 1am and we were both wide awake. Good old jet lag! We tried to rest until about 7am anyways, and make a plan for a full day of sightseeing, walking, eating, and picture taking. Venice part two coming up soon!

My mom is quiet, and sometimes shy, but she is very funny and warm. At my wedding last October, it didn’t even occur to me that she’d want to get up and say anything, but when I mentioned that my sister was making a speech, she thought she would get up with her and say a few words. She totally blew me away, too – she was loud, well-spoken and clever and described our relationship so accurately. She also spent countless hours leading up to the day altering my wedding dress so that it looked, and fit, just right.

While we are very different, personality wise, she understands me really well and never questions me. She’s an extremely creative person and has no trouble thinking out of the box. When I was a child, she would sew stuffed animals for me, make clothes for my Barbies, and supply me with an endless array of paper, paint, books, and lessons in art and music to fuel my creativity.

She is also a great artist and I’m proud to have her artwork adorn the walls of my house.

Today is Mother’s Day, and while most people are treating their moms to lunch, or taking them for pedicures, my mom drove me to the airport so I could fly off to Italy. She is selfless and caring, and I am lucky to have her for my mom.

Happy Mother’s Day!