Ah, Venezia!

What a day it has been, friends. We started off Wednesday morning in Phoenix at 4:15am, and our flight to Philadelphia went well. Our next flight from Philadelphia was delayed by an hour leaving for Milan because the Navigation light was out. I guess you kinda need that to work when you fly over a giant body of water such as the Atlantic.

However, we did not mind as our first class seats were exactly that. Matty had to reach his legs as far as he could stretch just to touch the seat in front of him. They gave us eye covers to help us sleep, upgraded pillows, snuggly socks, and the seats reclined ALL the way back. It was terrific.

"I don't mind that we're late," said Savannah. "I love this first class thing."

Both of us managed to sleep and when we awoke, we were descending over another continent above the majestic Swiss Alps. It was a georgeous sight.

After landing in Milan, late, customs and getting our bags was a breeze. We even found the bus that would take us to the Milan Central Train Station rather quickly. However, because we were late, we hit Milan rush hour traffic which compares to something like LA's apparently. Who would've guessed?

So the standard 50 minute bus trip took an hour and 45 minutes. Thus we missed the train we wanted to take and had to wait an hour and a half for the next train to Venice. Because of this, we missed our first tour, a walking tour of the island city.

It worked out in the end, however, as we still made the boat tour in time. A trip up the Grand Canal with a native guide and a bottle of champagne was sensational. We saw a vast array of palazzas (palaces) and chiesas (churches) along the route. One of the palazzas we saw was the first one ever built on the Grand Canal, in the 1200's! The weather is perfect at 73 degrees and sunny and a leisurely trip on the canal was just what the doctor ordered.

Our residence for our 2 days here, Hotel Fontana, is special. We were greeted warmly by the owner, Diego, as he welcomed us to his city. As it was our honeymoon, Diego had reserved his most special room (of the 14 rooms total in the quaint inn) which has a terrace that overlooks a small courtyard and the Church of San Zaccaria. Diego even called the people from the tour we missed and negotiated with them to accept us for tomorrow.

Now we are going to relax and have our own sieste (midday nap) before we head out to dinner and a gelato.

Ciao and we'll post again soon!