Day 1

After a grueling day (nearly 19 hours) of planes and airports we arrived in Venice, Italy. We were met by Alessandro at the airport and taken to our water taxi. We dragged our luggage at least ¼ mile from the airport to the taxi. After boarding the taxi we learned that we were allowed 1 bag “free” and would be charged E 9.50 for each additional bag. This was quite a surprise as our transfers were all prepaid through the travel agency. We were also informed that we will be charged an additional E 5 for each additional bag at each transfer. That translates into E 136.50 ($197.00) just to transport luggage!
We were exhausted after all that travel. We checked into the Hotel Bizanzio. It is a lovely Hotel and we had beautiful rooms. Becky and I were on the 2nd floor and we could see the dome of a church across the rooftops in the distance. Mom, Misty, Judy and Susan had rooms on the first floor with windows that opened into a courtyard. After relaxinf for a short time we asked for a recommendation for a restaurant. The desk clerk (Gabriel) recommended Trattoria D’Giardenetto. When we found it, we couldn’t tell if it was open and started to enter. A man came up to us, asked if we had reservations, then told us it didn’t matter and informed us that they would open at 7pm and to come back 10 minutes before 7 (it was 6:30). We went down a few doors and looked at some of the shops. We found a bakery and several of us bought some baked goods. I purchased 2 canolli thinking they had a crème filling. Susan purchased a 1.5L bottle of water for E 1.90 and thought she had a great deal as everywhere we saw water it was about E 3 for a smaller bottle of water. Mom purchased some little tarts.
We returned to the restaurant for dinner. This restaurant was interesting as it had an indoor garden of a grape vine growing over the ceiling, dropping leaves while we ate. The food was expensive to us, but relatively inexpensive for Venice—E 9. for a plate of pasta with a mandatory E 2. cover charge and 12% gratuity. We enjoyed the ambience and the food but could not get the waiter to bring our check. 20-30 minutes after finishing and having our plates cleared we finally were able to get his attention and asked for the check. 15 minutes later another waiter asked if we would like our check and we replied in the affirmative. It took an additional 10 minutes before it came. The bill was the equivalent of $140 for dinner. Welcome to Venice! As I said previously, it was delicious.
We went back to the hotel and crashed. When we returned to our room after dinner, Becky and I tried the canolli. They were about 2 bites each and were filled with chocolate and white chocolate and were incredible.