Venice

We flew home from Scotland to meet my sister, Lindsay, in London! She got two full weeks off to join us for the second week of our spring break trip to Italy and Greece, and then a whole week in London afterwards. I officially get the "Worst Sister EVER Award" because this is the second time Lindsay has come to visit me in London, and both times I wasn't able to meet her at the airport -- she did make it to our flat okay though! 

Jordan, Lindsay, and I flew out to Venice the next morning and were a little shocked to arrive in 75 to 80 degree weather -- it was wonderful! Even with the weather aside, we absolutely adored Venice. First of all, there are no cars allowed in the city (which is a big island), so it seems so quiet! Their main modes of transportation include walking or boating through the canals, which they use like roads. You kind of feel like you're in a fantasy world the whole time...

Venice seriously blew my expectations out of the water. Its colorful, yet rustic charm was absolutely mesmerizing. A dream world, really. 

There aren't a ton of "landmarks" to see, which was a nice change of pace for us and gave us a lot of freedom to just wander the streets of Venice, enjoy the incredible Italian meals, see the city at our own pace, and fall completely in love with gelato...

I'm not exaggerating when I say that we all had at least one helping of gelato every day we were in Italy. Jordan usually had two! :)

Every where you turn in Venice, there is a postcard picture shot. Literally. It felt so surreal, like I was looking at a backdrop to a movie set or something. I kept having to remind myself that it was real!

The major tourist sight to see in Venice is San Marco Square (aka "St. Mark's Square"). You'd probably recognize it from various movies, like the movie Just Married -- it's the square with all the pigeons! 

Here is Lindsay and I in San Marco Square.

We got to go inside this beautiful church located right in the square, which is called St. Mark's Basilica. It was so ancient and ornate, and definitely had an Italian flare to it.

I think this shot of the gondolas might be my favorite picture from Venice. We took a lot of breaks from walking around, and we'd just sit by the water and stick our feet in. Not a bad view, huh?!

So the joke of the trip became Jordan's complete obsession with gelato. I can't blame him; you really can't beat real gelato in Italy on a hot day! It's so much better than ice cream; it's a lot lighter and has much better flavor. If you haven't tried it, you're missing out! We decided that I was totally taking a backseat to the new love of Jordan's life. :)

I, on the other hand, became totally obsessed with all the unique, rustic doors along the canals and roads in Venice. At one point, my sister and I almost fell down laughing trying to picture the classic American scene in Venice -- "Honey, I'm home..." (as the husband is totally drenched!) Maybe you had to be there... I swear it was funny! :)

Me and Jord in front of one of the canals. Just as a side note, I think Venice is 10 times more romantic than Paris... just my opinion!

I loved all the different colored buildings...

Brother-and-sister-in-laws! My two faves. :)

Did I not warn you? OBSESSED with the doors.

This picture makes me laugh every time I see it. I think the perfection caption for it is either "Traffic Jam in Venice" or "Rush Hour in Venice" -- I'm still undecided. :)

We decided against taking a ride in the gondolas mostly because we probably would have had to sell our house to do so. Okay, okay, they're not that expensive, but I think it was something like 100 Euros for a 40-minute ride. Uh, thanks but no thanks! 

We did get to ride one of the big water taxis, which is Venice's public transportation, believe it or not! It was really neat to get to see Venice from the water, especially right before the sun went down.

This is La Salute Church at the end of the Grand Canal in Venice. So beautiful...

I'm a little nervous to make such a bold statement, but I think Venice is my favorite city we've visited so far. :) It was everything I dreamed Italy would be, and maybe even more. Walking around taking in the rustic character of the buildings, eating delicious authentic Italian food right next to the water, having a legitimate excuse to eat gelato everyday ("how often am I in Italy?!")... it was just magical. Yes, I know "magical" is the cheesiest word in the English dictionary. Deal with it. :)

To see all of our pictures from Venice (and trust me, it was hard to narrow it down to the 60-photo limit), click here.