From Here to There – A Move Across an Ocean

The girls were glad to see MyMan, and see this cool city built on the water!  They thought the water taxis were awesome.

I’ve said before that we tend to stay in apartments when we travel because it tends to be cheaper and more spacious.  This time was no different.  I found a cute apartment on TripAdvisor called Ca’Masena.  It was a little one bedroom apartment in the Dorsoduro district of Venice.  It suited our needs well for this long weekend trip.  It is very close to a major water taxi drop off, has a grocery store around the corner, and restaurants nearby.

Walking to the apartment down a narrow alleyway.

Because the tides can affect how high the water comes onto the land – most bottom floor apartments and businesses have these metal plates installed.  If the water level rises very high, then these plates keep the water from seeping inside.  People tend to put these on if they are gone for long periods.  They don’t leave them on permanently.

Inside the apartment.  If you notice the beams on the ceiling – this wasn’t for decoration.  These were structural beams that supported the second floor!  That’s why the beams are so close together.

A little kitchen and door that leads out to the terrace.  The weather was a little too cold for us to use the terrace, but I’m sure it’s very nice in the warmer months.

A pull out sofa and single bed suited the girls for the couple of nights we slept here.

Once we dropped our bags, we headed back out to look around and get something to eat. 

This was a University

They had these little bear statues inside their walls.  No idea why, but they were cute!

The Venetians create gardens where ever possible.

And if they don’t have room for a full garden, you can see many apartment balconies full of plants and flowers.

We stopped at a place MyMan had eaten at previously, and he thought the pizza was good.  Standing room only, and it was delicious! 

It had been a cloudy day, and by the evening it was raining, so we didn’t venture out for too long before making our way back to the apartment.

At the grocery store by the apartment, we were very amused by their wine.  Just look at the size of this bottle!!  5 Liters of wine for less than €12!  Honestly, living in Europe has ruined me in regards to buying wine.  In America, good wine is MUCH more expensive.  In Europe you can get some great wines for CHEAP! 

And we thought it was also funny that they had anti-theft devices on these bottles of wine….Wine that was less than €11. 

It was the end of a long day of traveling and we were all tired.  After grabbing some dinner, we headed back to the apartment for the night.  The next day I had a 3 hour guided tour planned, and we all needed some rest.  We all thought Venice was a very cool city and we were looking forward to seeing some of the lesser traveled areas of Venice on our tour.