Our second day in Italy we planned a day trip to Venice. Our thoughts were to see as much as possible in the time we had, so we booked train tickets and took the two hour speed train to Venice that morning.
Train station in Florence, ready to head to Venice!
Hello Venice!!! The train ride was about 2 hours so we arrived in Venice around 10:00 am.
On the right is the train station and it drops you off on the Grand Canal.
Our day plan was to explore and get lost (all the research I had done, that was the number one thing said to do in Venice...GET LOST!) So we crossed this bridge and went on exploring.
Getting lost was a lot easier than we had imagined, and at times it was a little frustrating haha, but when you are lost in random streets like this you can't help but feel like you're in an enchanted realm.
We took lots and lots of pictures because everything was so majestic, so if you don't want to see lots of pictures stop now!
With how touristy Venice is, most of the streets are completely empty which surprised me.
Jeff loves the old world brick look.
Beautiful place and beautiful man.
Surreal.
Bridges leading to homes.
I love him.
Random canals everywhere.
Jeff was the ultimate navigator of the whole trip and as part of that he also looked up all the best reviewed restaurants so we would have the best experience of local food. Antico Forno was known for their pizza.
I loved the thick crusted pizza. It's kind of like having pizza on a perfectly toasted french bread.
MMMM.
A lot of the restaurants in Italy don't offer much sitting inside, if they offer seating at all. This specific restaurant had counters along the walls that you could stand and eat your food.
I wasn't a fan of this style of eating, because after walking and walking and walking your feet hurt and when you get a second to rest you want to sit! But the delicious food always made up for the lack of sitting.
A beautiful old clock. That walkway on the right is the Rialto Bridge, which was under renovations unfortunately. So we couldn't see what it really looked like.
View of the Grand Canal from the bottom of the Rialto Bridge.
Gondoliers are all over the canals and they all wear the novelty stripe shirts and hats.
The Grand Canal was fun to walk along and just soak up Venice. It's amazing to think that someone had the idea to build on the water. It's so romantic to see these beautiful palaces that can only be reached by boat. This place is definitely amazing.
Another view of the Grand Canal.
This has to be the most beautiful H&M I've ever been to. Of course I had to stop and of course I ended up buying stuff. SORRY JEFF!
Shopping addict.
Balcony gardens, I was in love.
LOVE.
After getting lost and exploring we were able to finally find, Piazza San Marco or St Mark's Square.
Live music from all the restaurants in the square, so romantic.
Jeff admiring the beautiful surroundings.
On the right is the train station and it drops you off on the Grand Canal.
I love him.
MMMM.
I wasn't a fan of this style of eating, because after walking and walking and walking your feet hurt and when you get a second to rest you want to sit! But the delicious food always made up for the lack of sitting.
Typical to have such beautiful buildings everywhere. The detail is just exquisite.
Panoramic take 1 (look at Jeff's face hahaha, I told him to stay still.)
Take 5 and we finally got it down haha. I love this picture because it shows the whole square.
St. Mark's Basilica was insane. The detail in everything blew my mind. The Italians really went all out in their cathedrals, from size to materials used to every last details, no short cuts were taken.
See what I mean?
Beautiful astronomical clock right next to the basilica.
I love the look of Doge's Palace, look at the pattern of all that marble and the Italian gothic style.
MAJOR HEART EYES.
Basilica on the left and palace on the right.
San Marco Campanile (the big brick tower in the square.)
Tickets to take the elevator to the top were 8 euro a piece, worth it!!!
Views from the top.
Panoramic.
I love all the terra cotta roofs.
Top of basilica and the palace.
Astronomical clock and the basilica.
Looking down on the square, clock, and basilica.
Top of the square, where we entered from.
Turquoise/emerald waters + terra cotta roofs + green plush trees = LOVE
The bells that used to ring at the top of the tower.
Don't worry, they have the top of the tower barred for safety. Thankfully hands can fit through for a beautiful picture.
After San marco Campanile, we made our way through the other side of the square.
Another view of Doge's Palace.
Another view of the campanile and beautiful shops.
We would have kicked ourselves if we didn't go on a gondola ride in Venice!!! Right off of St Mark's square they have the main gondola service. (We looked around and they all are about the same in price, 80 euro for a 45 minute ride or 100 euro if you go at sunset.)
Right before jumping in our gondola.
I love him.
Our gondolier played photographer as well.
Views backing out of the dock.
It's always nice to get another perspective of such a beautiful city, and what better way to see the city on water from the water?
Bridge of Sighs. A local legend says that lovers will be granted good luck and eternal love and bliss if they kiss on a gondola under the Bridge of Sighs. So guess what we did...
The poles sticking out of the water are used by the gondoliers to keep the gondola on track and to kick off of.
Flower boxes.
Our gondolier, Nicola.
Beautiful views.
Making our way back to dock.
Random beautiful canal.
It was raining off and on all day but we didn't care, we chalked it up as part of the romance. There are always lots of street merchants trying to sell selfie sticks and umbrellas and you can bet that after this picture we had three of them trying to sell us a selfie stick and umbrella haha.
In Italy they have these drinking fountains all over where the water continually runs and you can fill up your water bottles.
A cute square.
Other side of the cute square.
Chiesa di San Zaccaria, the cathedral where Saint Zackariah, the father of John the Baptist, is said to be burried.
This cathedral was unlike any other because the walls were covered with huge paintings. It was beautiful and kind of reminded me of Harry Potter.
Beautiful paintings covered every wall. Floor to ceiling.
Amazing.
Then they had a room designed for meetings with these beautifully adorned thrones.
Gold on gold.
Beautiful fresco dome ceiling.
More beautiful ceilings.
Under the church they had a crypt.
In the crypt. As you can see there's water which adds to the creepiness for me.
Flooring. I love all the floor designs.
Last glance at all the beautiful artwork.
A random door I fell in love with.
Flooring I fell in love with too.
We wouldn't be fully enjoying Venice if we didn't have some gelato.
Church of St. Salvador, we saw an open door and just went in and stumbled across another beautiful cathedral.
Red.
We bought some pizza then found this random closed jazz bar with outdoor seating where we took refuge from the rain and ate our dinner.
So romantic.
Something I didn't expect in Italy was graffiti, however we had some fun with this graffiti.
Jeff did you WASH? Haha.
Beautiful rooftop garden.
Green waters.
San Stae was closed but look at those statues everywhere.
It details like these that made me fall in love over and over again.
MMMMHHHHHMMMMM.
Another empty street. Completely common, from what we found.
Dreamy.
Green.
As we ran to catch our train back to Florence we stumbled upon another church, Santa Maria di Nazareth, right by the train station.
You can't see it too well, but the ceiling art was amazing.
Ornate to the max.
View of San Simeone Piccolo from the train station.
Venice was as beautiful...
...as romantic...
...and as dreamy as I thought, but what made it so magical was exploring with my love.
I highly recommend Venice to anyone. It was an amazing experience and when (wishful thinking haha) we make it back, I would like to stay the night there.
Watch our YouTube video to see all the fun in motion!!
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