Almost anyone who's ever gone to Italy has made a point to go to Venice. It's unique beyond compare, it's weird, it's got more history than you realize, and it's strangely beautiful. In fact, when Graham and I went to visit Europe in 2012, we had a 20 hour stint in Venice for all of those reasons.
Not surprisingly, it was on the list of Jenna's "we have to go there" places in Italy. So on a random weekend when we hadn't planned anything else, we took a 7:00 a.m. train to Venice, arriving by 10:00 in a quest to see the city for a day.
Fact about Venice: you cannot walk in a straight line for more than about 100 yards unless you're on the far side of the city. Every street dead-ends, goes over a bridge, or comes to a big square before dead-ending. It is quite possibly the most confusing of any city in Italy, and that's unbelievably impressive, considering the competition.
Everything we actually did in Venice kind of pales in relation to the main points of the day, so this post is now going to change gears.
I had been planning on proposing to Jenna some time in Europe, which meant that I needed the ring before we left, which meant that I'd been carrying this ring around in my backpack (which I guarded with my life) for over a month by the time we went to Venice. I had a feeling it might happen in Venice, but I didn't really know. If it rained or if we were in crabby moods, I'd put it off. See, that's the beauty of this whole situation - no matter where I pulled the trigger, I would look romantic, right? Perfect.
We wandered the city literally all day. We went to the farthest reaches of the islands - past where the tourists go, past the residential area, and into a park at the far end. To give an idea, here was the view before we even made it the whole way to the end.
We found a street where the locals seemed to hang out and watched a heart-wrenching scene as a Bichon-Frisse limped along the street in a feeble attempt to keep up with its owner. This poor little thing just couldn't keep up but wanted to so badly. It was the most adorably painful thing we've ever seen. We consoled ourselves with gelato.
We walked back through St. Mark's and the Rialto Bridge and saw the sights again, fighting through a few crowds and admiring the canals both big and small.
Some time later in the day I sought out a quiet spot near a canal, which are easier to find than you might expect. Venice crawls with people at nearly all times, but the main sights are so popular and the street-system so confusing that it's very easy to find yourself alone on a canal.
Blah blah blah, I was a little worried that she'd get nervous and slap the ring into the canal so I help on tight and asked her to marry me. She said yes. It was exciting. No one around. It was down the "street" from this sign you see below.
Did I mention that she said yes? That was nice.
We also watched someone at the fish market chop the heads off fish and throw them back into the Grand Canal, which is supposedly very dirty. Don't swim in Venice.
We took the train back in the evening, feeling like we'd seen what there was to see in Venice. Things can get very expensive there; hotels are pricey, hostels are pricey, meals can be pricey, and doing things like theater/masquerades/fancy dinners run in the hundreds of euros each, so don't be roped in by all that shenaniganery.
Next trip: Bellinzona, Switzerland. A place we knew nothing about aside from it being in Switzerland. And it would be our first engaged getaway.
Not surprisingly, it was on the list of Jenna's "we have to go there" places in Italy. So on a random weekend when we hadn't planned anything else, we took a 7:00 a.m. train to Venice, arriving by 10:00 in a quest to see the city for a day.
Fact about Venice: you cannot walk in a straight line for more than about 100 yards unless you're on the far side of the city. Every street dead-ends, goes over a bridge, or comes to a big square before dead-ending. It is quite possibly the most confusing of any city in Italy, and that's unbelievably impressive, considering the competition.
Everything we actually did in Venice kind of pales in relation to the main points of the day, so this post is now going to change gears.
I had been planning on proposing to Jenna some time in Europe, which meant that I needed the ring before we left, which meant that I'd been carrying this ring around in my backpack (which I guarded with my life) for over a month by the time we went to Venice. I had a feeling it might happen in Venice, but I didn't really know. If it rained or if we were in crabby moods, I'd put it off. See, that's the beauty of this whole situation - no matter where I pulled the trigger, I would look romantic, right? Perfect.
We wandered the city literally all day. We went to the farthest reaches of the islands - past where the tourists go, past the residential area, and into a park at the far end. To give an idea, here was the view before we even made it the whole way to the end.
We found a street where the locals seemed to hang out and watched a heart-wrenching scene as a Bichon-Frisse limped along the street in a feeble attempt to keep up with its owner. This poor little thing just couldn't keep up but wanted to so badly. It was the most adorably painful thing we've ever seen. We consoled ourselves with gelato.
We walked back through St. Mark's and the Rialto Bridge and saw the sights again, fighting through a few crowds and admiring the canals both big and small.
Below, the Grand Canal.
Some time later in the day I sought out a quiet spot near a canal, which are easier to find than you might expect. Venice crawls with people at nearly all times, but the main sights are so popular and the street-system so confusing that it's very easy to find yourself alone on a canal.
Blah blah blah, I was a little worried that she'd get nervous and slap the ring into the canal so I help on tight and asked her to marry me. She said yes. It was exciting. No one around. It was down the "street" from this sign you see below.
Did I mention that she said yes? That was nice.
We also watched someone at the fish market chop the heads off fish and throw them back into the Grand Canal, which is supposedly very dirty. Don't swim in Venice.
We took the train back in the evening, feeling like we'd seen what there was to see in Venice. Things can get very expensive there; hotels are pricey, hostels are pricey, meals can be pricey, and doing things like theater/masquerades/fancy dinners run in the hundreds of euros each, so don't be roped in by all that shenaniganery.
Next trip: Bellinzona, Switzerland. A place we knew nothing about aside from it being in Switzerland. And it would be our first engaged getaway.
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