Not too long ago we were in Europe for several weeks and part of our trip included Venice, Italy. We had been making our way around Italy from Rome heading northwards and had visited several parts of the country. Venice was our last stop prior to heading to France. We were excited. We arrived by train and headed right to a water taxi for the short trip to Piazza San Marco (St Mark's Square) and our hotel which was nearby the piazza. We are reasonably seasoned travellers however our heads were on swivels as there was so much to see. It was Venice after all! The day we arrived was about 20 degrees and sunny. Pretty ideal. After checking in and getting squared away we headed our for some reconnaissance and to get our bearings, grab something to eat at a restaurant and chat about the next few days.
We had a few things planned for our stay: A gondola ride, a Venice walking tour with a private guide and on our last night there I had a special dinner planned for our wedding anniversary and my wife's birthday which happen to be on the same day, our last full day in Venice. The weather had other ideas though.
We woke up the next day and it was pouring with rain. Properly pouring. We had a really nice breakfast at our hotel and then headed down to Piazza San Marco which is where we were meeting our guide. She was there to meet us at the appointed time however advised us the tour would not be possible. We were devastated. The guide was very apologetic however had no choice but to refund our money and leave us to our own devices.
We are not the type to mope though and we quickly got down to the business of seeing what we could considering it was pouring with rain. We purchased a couple of [extremely] bright yellow rain coats and an umbrella and explored. There's a lot to do and see in Venice of course so we had a great time despite the rain. Coming from Australia means that everything is a long way from home and we know that some of the places we go will be visited only once. We were determined to get the most that we could out of Venice but the weather had other ideas on the following day also. It wasn't quite as bad but was still rainy, on and off, and we were worried our gondola ride may be in jeopardy. This day was our wedding anniversary and my wife's birthday. Fortunately we were able to take the ride as the rain stopped although the skies were grey still.
Something that did go to plan was my special dinner that I had planned. That went off without a hitch and overall we had a great day. We walked back to our hotel around 10:30pm through the maze of streets which is a little eerie once the shop-fronts all close up. There wasn't a lot of people around and it all looks the same. We made it to our hotel though and were content with how our day went.
The day we were moving on to France the weather turned out absolutely perfect. Of course it did! We took a walk for half the day and checked out a few extra things and then headed to the train station in a water taxi. The image to the right was taken on that walk.
So, we came away with only a small taste of venice and felt thoroughly ripped off by the weather. Of course we're not the type to dwell on things like that and we made the best of an average situation resolving right at that point to come back and do Venice properly. We are heading to the UK in June this year and had discussed a side trip into Venice however it just wasn't efficient as far as direction of travel and time either. We'll get back though and are aiming at 2020 for my 50th.
[- Design and create your ideal life, don’t live it by default - 