Trains and Water Buses We took the 9:20am train from Florence to Venice. Good thing we pre-booked, as the train was packed! It’s only a 2 hour and 15 minute train ride, with brief stops in Bologna, Ferrara, and Padova. Once we arrived in Venice, we took a vaporetto (water bus) from the train station to our hotel (Hotel Cà d’Oro), which is charming. We...
Early Start to the Day We were up very early, before our hotel breakfast started, so we took a walk and found a caffè that was open early. The best part about getting up early is the empty streets. So peaceful! By the time we got back, it was almost time for the hotel breakfast, so we went back to the room for a bit before enjoying second breakfast. Libreria Acqua...
Teatro La Fenice We started the day with a fantastic self-guided audio tour of Teatro La Fenice (The Phoenix), a very famous opera house in Venice. It rose to fame in the 19th century when it became the site of many famous operatic premieres at which the works of several of the four major bel canto era composers – Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi – were performed...
Departing Venice We began the day with an early (6:30am) walk through a deserted Venice. After coffee and cannoli at the only open caffè we could find, we returned to finish packing, then had a more robust breakfast at our hotel. We finished just in time for the water taxi that we booked the night before (with the help of the front desk). They picked us up on the...
Trip Overview We had been discussing doing a family trip with my dad, step-mom, sister, and brother-in-law. None of us had been to Croatia, and a friend of my sister had just gone and raved about it. While Teresa and I (as well as my sister and brother-in-law) don’t really do organized tour vacations, we thought having everything taken care of would be helpful...