Monday, June 30th: Venice

Monday, June 30, 2014

Waking up in Venice on Monday was the official start to the honeymoon. No traveling, able to sleep in an actual bed, and ready to get going to see some sites. 

We started the morning at our hotel with a nice continental breakfast. With food in our stomachs, we made our way to San Marco square which is one of the most famous spots in Venice. We saw the palace and tower and tried to take pictures holding the top of the tower. You'll see what I mean by tried below...

I like to try and find hidden gems and explore the side streets. After San Marco square, we found a beautiful garden away from the crowds and tourists. After relaxing and taking a couple of pictures, we took a vaporetto up to the Marcuolo station to experience the Canareggio area and the Jewish Ghetto.

We started out at the Synagogue Tedeschi and saw old Jewish relics such as ketubahs, Seder plates, and other historical artifacts from the 16th and 17th centuries. The museum was sooo stimulating that we started to get hungry again. We ended up at Gam Gam which is the only kosher restaurant in Venice and was great. We got a whole sampler of items and some fried artichoke. 

We took a long route through the city walking down side streets when we stumbled upon "dottor fish", a Turkish fish pedicure house. Of course, we had to try it. We washed our feet and carefully dipped them into a tub of water filled with fish designed to eat the dead skin off of our feet. It was weird and ticklish, but a pretty cool experience nonetheless.

After that, we ended up back at our hotel in the mid-afternoon. We decided to go to the rooftop bar at our hotel with our travel scrabble set and get some sun with a couple glasses of rosé. It was then nap time for Shayna before dinner at Algiubagio.

The restaurant for dinner was right near Fondamente Nuove on the northernmost area of Venice. It looked out onto the water and to the island of Murano. For dinner, I had a raw seafood appetizer, handmade ravioli with duck, and a crepe flambé for dessert. Shayna started with a Caprese salad where the tomato was stuffed with mozzarella, Tagliatelle pasta with mozzarella cheese, mint and pepperoncini, and for dessert she got tiramisu which was amazing.

After dinner, the World Cup game between Germany and Algeria was still going on so we found a jazz bar that was playing the game and had a nightcap there.

Tomorrow we will do a couple more things in Venice and off to Florence...

Matt (& Shayna)