Venezia! Buongiorno! We woke up in our beautiful room in boutique Hotel Cima Rosa to the sound of many boats going by us in the grand canal outside our window!

*The busy Grand Canal outside our window*

Wow what an usual sight and sound in such unique city that revolves around canals and boats of all kinds.

After splashing cold water on our faces and getting ready for the days new adventures we headed down the stairway we were greeted by our kind hostess Brittany. She made and served us our yummy breakfast. Sitting at our table by the open window looking out over the grand canal, since we were sitting at the kitchen table,, visiting with Brittany as made us breakfast, was easy and so relaxing. She served us a delicious parfait, toast n jam, fried eggs, fried speck, caffe' doppio, and a cappuccino for Mandy.

So interesting visiting with Brittany. She grew up in the Ohio (USA). She came to Venezia at the age of 18 with a student visa. In the meantime of studying, she found her future husband a local Venetian. She has lived in Italia for 22 years, raising a family and is the owner of Hotel Cima Rosa. We learnt so much from Brittany during our conversations during breakfast. We talked about Italy, Venice and yes of course we had to talk about the USA to. Thank you Brittany you are great cook and hostess. Mandy and I throughly enjoyed our stay at you boutique hotel. Come visit us in Mississippi!

Our tour guide (Giada) met us at Cima Rosa at 9:15. Tour was booked through the With Locals App. Today's agenda: catch the regional train from Venezia to Giada's childhood home town of Treviso. Giada grew up in Treviso, studied in Venezia, and now calls Venezia home. After approximate 30 min train ride we arrived in Treviso.

Treviso is a cute town that is sometimes referred to as Little Venice because of it's many fresh water canals.

Giada told us the interesting history of Treviso. Including the World War II history showing us buildings that had been bombed by USA bombers and rebuilt.

*Ancient frescos on part of the building survived after being bombed in WWII.*

We stopped for a quick snack of Panzerotti. She ordered two panzerotti for us. One had sardines and mozzarella the other had mozzarella and ham. Very good! Even had some local vino rosso which is so typical here in Italia.

*Our guide buying mid morning snacks for us*

Delicious fried snack — *Delicious* *fried snack*

A highlight of the tour was visiting the restraunt where Tiramsu was created and having a delicious slice with an espresso shot and a glass of water. Before heading back to Venice we had to stop for Gelato! Thank you Giada for a great day and tour of your home town Treviso.

Are you looking for the best guide in Venezia or Treviso? Book with Giada. Here is her link:

https://www.withlocals.com/host/giadaf247628eaa

*The restraunt that claims to have first created Tiramsu*

We arrived back in Venice around 2:30 pm. Took a scenic walk from the train to Cima Rosa where we crashed for a much needed power nap. Afterwards we wandered the streets and canal bridges of our local neighborhood. Feeling refreshed we headed out in search of a Gondalier that would take us on a long awaited first gondola ride. Beings there were not many tourists in Venezia during our time in the city, it wasn't hard to find an idle Gondalier waiting to gives a us ride in his prised gondola. We wanted to take a gondola ride starting from a back canal near our hotel, which wasn’t a problem. The problem was deciding which Gondalier to ride with! They all wanted the business after such a slow year of lock downs during the plandemic.

*The Gondalier and Gondola we chose to ride with*

*Our relaxing gondola ride in the beautiful small canals*

Having settled on a Gondalier he helped us aboard his boat named Claudia after his wife. Off we went gliding silently through beautiful back canals heading for the grand canal. A very relaxing experience I must say.

After passing under the Rialto Bridge we headed towards our starting point.

*Our gondola ride headed under the Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal*

Godola ride cost is 80 euros before 7 pm or 100 euros after 7 pm. This price is for the whole gondola not per person. Is it worth it? Yes, I would say so. It is such a old tradition in Venice that it really is something to experience at least once while visiting Venice.

*One of the numerous gondola moring areas on grand canal. Tip: find one in the back canals less busy…*

An interesting note: To become a Gondalier is not easy and is usually handed down from generation to generation. The Gondalier is an very skilled oarsman that can maneuver his gondola with one oar from only one side of the boat. He is always in the standing position riding in the rear of the gondola.

*Notice how he stands on the rear of the with oar on only one side…*

Todays cost for a new gondola is roughly 40,000 to 50,000 euros. They are very streamlined well designed boats. The Gondalier get to choose the accessories and some colors like the seat fabric etc. The Godola hule is always black.

*A place where Gondolas are built or restored*

Once again we had dinner at the local Trattoria just down the street and around a couple corners lol…which became our favorite closeby restraunt.

This evenings I ordered the grilled cuttlefish served with polenta and salad (which ended up being a totally different kind of fish then I was expecting).

*Grilled Cuttlefish, polenta, and salad*

Mandy ordered the Lasagna and a Caprese salad.

*The tourist entree in Venice…it was very good Lasagna*

After dinner we headed back to our room to take a convient, on the go, Binax Now Covid test for our return trip back to USA on Friday.

This we did by live video online. The certified personal walking us through the testing process. Taking roughly twenty five minutes. It is very simple and straightforward. If a covid test is needed we recommend this method for anyone looking for simple testing that can be done in your home or on vacation anytime of day. (Best option is to avoid all covid testing but sometimes there is no other option…) Delta and other Airlines will accept these test. Good News! We were both negative and cleared for our flight back to the USA in approximately 40 hours. We where then sent digital Negative test results to the Navica app on our phones…

Tomorrow at 10:00 Giada we take us on a tour of Venice. Check back soon!

Now it’s time for a long overnight nap. Bonne Notte!

Venice, Treviso

Venezia

Salute Dolomites, Ciao Venezia