Venice, Italy: View from the Water (and a gondola ride)

Once upon a time, Matt and I went on an incredible European honeymoon. I blogged about it here and there, but never quite finished... and my sister Heidi has never let me forget about it. :-) So over the next few weeks, you'll see plenty of European posts mixed in with our regular, right-now life posts. I know it's old news by now, but pictures of Italy and France never go out of style, right?

I left off in Hallstatt, Austria. From there, we slept in Salzburg and caught an extremely early train to Venice. Our first glimpse of the City on Water came at a distance from our train window and I was already in love.

We arrived at the train station and headed to the canal to catch a water taxi. Water taxis are the most efficient way to get around Venice, but they are far from cheap! Since our hotel was on the lagoon by Saint Mark's Square, which is on the opposite side of the city from the train station, we used water taxis to and from the trains but used our feet the rest of the time. We loved seeing the city from two different perspectives--from the water and from the land--and I'll break up my Venice posts accordingly.

The city was so enchanting on that first water taxi ride, and I couldn't wait to get off the boat to see it up close!

Matt and I checked into our hotel and began exploring the canals and alleyways of Venice. The most important item on our agenda was to ride a gondola (and kiss underneath the Rialto Bridge, of course) so we followed the signs and made our way toward the bridge.

Along the way, we saw dozens on gondolas crammed into the tiny canals and crossed our fingers that our gondolier would take us on a slightly less crowded path (he did).

Near the bridge, we commenced crossing one of the most classically romantic experiences ever off our bucket list. Our Vin Diesel-esque gondolier was perfect.

Venice looked beautiful from the water taxi, but it was even more breathtaking on the slow-paced gondola that took us through the canals and allowed us to really soak the city in. We took a few pictures but mostly let the camera have a rest while we just enjoyed our gondola ride. It was incredible.

Though you can't tell from the overexposed picture above, the sun was starting to set when our gondola ride ended and the city was beginning to light up. Much more to come on that in the next post!

We were back on the water the next morning to head back to the train station. Along with being gorgeous, Venice is also small and astronomically expensive. This makes a one-day, one-night trip a very good option for two young newlyweds.

On our water taxi back, we noticed a tiny little park squeezed between the old buildings. Real estate is hard to come by in the cramped city!

Before we knew it, we were right back to where we started at the train station, and on our way to Rome! Of course, the Rome posts will have to wait until I've shown you the rest of Venice.