May 3/4 – Day 1: PDX-SFO-FRA-VCE

We started off our northern Italy vacation by bidding “arrivederci” to Casey and my folks and heading to PDX. We took full advantage of flying United International Business by camping out in the PDX Red Carpet Club and acting like total tourists (which we pretty much were). After a short hop to SFO, we ascended the “magic staircase” to the upper deck of our 747 and settled into the last pair of seats starboard side. Now THIS is the only way to fly across the Atlantic! Kirstin and I got sucked into watching too many movies and probably slept only about 2 hours. We arrived to a sunny day in Frankfurt, disembarked, and proceeded to navigate the maze that is FRA. After passport control and security, we finally located our Lufthansa gate for the aircraft to take use to Venice. I was pretty exhausted and tried to nap while Kirstin went for a stroll. The LH flight was short and we both slept hard until touching down at VCE. We had finally made it to Italy!

Since we had carried our bags on, it was a quick exit from Marco Polo Airport and a short walk to catch the Alilaguna ferry boat to Piazza San Marco. The boat ride was lovely, watching Venice grow in the distance, yet we were still fairly tired and most was a blur. We finally landed and rolled our bags off at San Zaccaria near Piazza San Marco. Oh the mass of humanity near PSM on a sunny Sunday afternoon! Our hotel, the Westin Europa & Regina, was tucked away down a long calle (alley or street in Venice), literally – luckily we saw the sign for it, and I had naturally done some pre-planning and mapping on Google Earth. Upon check-in, we were pleasantly surprised to hear we’d been upgraded to “a very nice room” on occasion of our 5th anniversary (and probably my SPG Gold status). Nice is an understatement. The room (619) was fantastic, with a partial view of the Grand Canal, lavish decor, and a bathroom larger than our ones at home combined. The impeccable staff at the E&R had left us a bottle of bubbly, a box of pralines, and a hand-signed note congratulating us and offering their utmost service. Kirstin and I proceeded to crash for an hour before showering and heading out to explore the town.

We had a dinner reservation at 8 PM in Dorsoduro, one of the neighborhoods in Venice, so we walked over the Accademia Bridge and killed time exploring the area around Zattere. It was such a lovely evening, people were out for their passeggiata (evening stroll), kids were running around chasing one another. We were early for our reservation at Taverna San Trovaso but were seated shortly. Our first dinner in Venice was good albeit way too much food. We split a half-liter of house prosecco (dry sparkling white from the Veneto region) that proceeded to go straight to our heads! I had the fixed price menu turistico with spaghetti al vongole (clams) and frittura mista (mixed fried seafood). Kirstin had a caprese (tomatoes and mozzarella) and pizza with prosciutto and mushrooms. It was all so good and we were stuffed…but my dinner also came with dessert. We split a light and yummy tiramisu before leaving completely satisfied. It had started to drizzle while we were in the restaurant, and Kirstin and I managed to get as lost as one could on an island before finding our way back to Piazza San Marco to gawk at the incredible architecture and scenery of Basilica San Marco, the Doge’s Palace, and the Campanile (bell tower). The orchestras were not “dueling” tonight, perhaps another evening then. We retired at the end of our first day, full of food, wine, and love here in “La Serenissima”.

Ciao, Tom