Day One, continues... Spoiler Alert!
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| Our Frecciarossa arriving at Stazione di Venezia Santa Lucia |
Our first view of Venice is not so glamorous as we imagined it would be. - Saying goodbye to our comfortable red liveried carriage we follow everyone else, quickly finding our way through to the concourse and out onto the wide Fondamenta Santa Lucia, leaving the deco-ish station behind. Vaporetto! The water bus. I don't know which one or how to get on one; or if we should perhaps think of a water taxi; what if they should rob us! We don't even know where to start, but 'over there' looks about right. Beside the canal, a busy hive of activity, yellow-banded, a tinted windowed white box, Ferrovia, Biglietteria \ Ticket Point. So declining all offers of assistance from the porters; I queue to acquire two tickets to San Marco, and then we queue in a line that indicates that this Vaporetto makes that stop.
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| Click pictures to view larger. |
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| Fondamenta Santa Lucia and Stazione di Venezia Santa Lucia (behind and above) |
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| Briefly out in the lagoon heading for Giudecca Canal. |
'Are you sure this is the right one'?
'Well, I hope so' I respond.
'How many stops is it?' 'We seem to be heading out into the lagoon.' 'Isn't the Grand Canal the other way?'
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| Linea / Route 2 sign, inside a 'Vaporetto' water bus, Venice, Italy |
At least we've got a seat and room for the bags and I'm reading and rereading the Route 2 sign. It clearly says San Marco, San Marco – S.Zaccaria. That is what we want; though it seems we are going the long way around, and so as our Vaporetto makes its way into Guidecca Canal it turns out that our arrival, our first view of Venice is, after a fashion from on the water, and it's exciting and a little more adventurous this unexpected anticlockwise direction. There are a few stops along the way, traversing the canal from one side to the other, and at last, we are nearly there. The churches become larger, the canal opens out and we cross St Marks Basin, from S. Giorgio Maggiore to San Zaccaria, everyone craning their heads to catch a glimpse of the majesty of it all, this ribbon of civilisation on a near-perfect day with cerulean blue above and teal below.
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| Opening pages of the photo album, Three Weeks In Venice. |
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