Bridges and Canals: Finding our way to our hotel at night in Venice

As we took the boat to Venice from the airport, I checked Google. Sunset a little after 8pm. The sun would set over Venice just as began our entry into the Grand Canal for the first time. Not a bad way to start!

We had disembarked at the beautiful Rialto bridge and immediately the sights and smells of Italy welcomed and enticed us. There were our beloved Cannoli here in the land of their origin! Pasta and wine were everywhere. The lights lit up riverside restaurants specializing in pasta and seafood. We were needless to say delighted. I wondered if we would return here to be one of the lucky patrons relaxing and enjoying the scenery. In fact we would. This would be one of our favorite haunts like so many before us.

OMG! CANNOLI!

Murano Glass? It's a big deal here. Made on one of the islands.

We began to make our way through the maze of this new found wonderland. Carefully consulting paper and Google maps guessing our way through the unknown and greeted at ever turn by sites and sounds that would make their way into our hearts forever. As unbeknownst to us, we neared our hotel and wandered past some of the best Gelato on the planet for the first time.

Mmmmmm Gelato. I will be back for you!

We wound our way past piazzo, over bridge and canal, walking between buildings down alleys we never would have ventured into at home. Finally, Google Maps said we were near, but where was our next turn? We kept walking past it. Finally realized this seeming crack between two buildings was an alley. no more than a few feet wide it was dark and intimidating. "You first!" my daughter says. :)

We walked an uncomfortable distance down this alley toward what seemed a dead end with no idea what we were getting into. Then we ran into these words painted on the wall by some graffiti artist with a sense of humor (we hoped) who knew exactly what we were thinking. The words we read at the end of this dark alley were backed by a blood like spray paint and put to words the thought at the back of our minds...."GAME OVER"

...and that's where you turn left trekking even further into an even darker alley and then right again down a still darker alley when you witness in almost disbelief...

The street entrance to our hotel

We rang the buzzer under this sign and were greeted by a very nice gentleman who remarked that he was very impressed we found this entrance not many do their first time. He knew exactly who we were. There weren't that many rooms and apparently we were the last ones to arrive that day.

Now if I had been smart enough to spring for a water taxi, this would have been our entrance.

But where's the fun in that? Okay, while it was a fun adventure, I do wish we had arrived at the front door at least once during our stay. What a cool way to make an entrance.

So our little brush with terror had ended. We dropped our bags and freshened up because we were both starving and it was time for our first meal in Italy. We didn't have to endure my usual Yelp consultation as we both knew where we wanted to go. We skipped the hotel recommendation and made our way back to the bridge. Oddly the trek back was not nearly so scary and in no time we found ourselves enjoying the sites and sounds of the Rialto bridge this time as patrons. We strolled up and down restaurant row on our side of the bridge but decided on the first one that we had passed. As it happened, that was the best one of the bunch. Have a look and see if you don't agree.