Today I hit the Accademia museum in the morning (after more cappucino and pastry, of course). Again, no photos, but if you're a fan of art history, I guess this is the place to go in Venice. The Peggy Guggenheim museum is also supposed to be great for modern art, but unfortunately, they are closed on Tuesdays.
I am not a museum person. There. I'll admit it. But I never regret going, even though I don't last longer than a few hours, and I always walk out in awe of what I've seen, regardless of how little I understand. The Palazzo Ducale that I visited yesterday also had some amazing art.
I mostly just walked around and took various photos, mostly of the water, the impressive bridges (such as the Rialto Bridge) and beautiful buildings.
I ate lunch at an osteria back in the Canarregio district, which consisted of carpaccio (not bad), and shrimp in tomato sauce. In general, the food was good, but mediocre in comparison to some of the dishes that I ate elsewhere (little did I know that at the time). I then walked around the Jewish Ghetto a bit and grabbed my first gelato of the trip, pistachio on a cone. Ah, gelato. You are heaven.
Still dealing with jet lag, I headed back and took a nap, and was unsure of what to do for dinner. I decided to see if I could get a table at the Osteria across from the hotel, since it seemed to be so popular and was listed in my guidebook. No such luck, but they did have ciccheti, and the guy behind the bar offered to put a plate together for me.
As usual, the bar was packed with people drinking wine, including a middle-aged man from Germany who struck up a conversation. He said that he comes to Venice all the time, usually only for a day or two. When I asked him why, he said it was to drink. He spoke zero Italian. While I politely acted interested in what he was saying, but thought he was pretty creepy. The ciccheti, however, was SO good, and had that baccala that I liked so much. Once I was finished, and actually pretty full, I politely excused myself and headed back to my neighborhood bar for a few more spritz before heading to bed.
I drank a LOT in Venice-probably because I was kicking off my vacation and celebrating not having to work for the next 30 days. But I was never drunk. I just really enjoyed having alcohol. Right after I finished my last drink, who walks in but the German. Seriously, this guy was here in Venice to get drunk. I acknowledged him but left pretty quickly after that!
So here's my overall summary and experience on Venice:
-Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. I would come here again for a romantic getaway, but probably not single.
-Extremely expensive. Not a bad thing, but just good to know if you're planning to come. Meals will run between 30-40 Euro, if you have an appetizer and pasta with one glass of house wine. Be prepared to pay more if you want a main course. Drink your coffee and eat your croissant at the bar, for sitting at a table will cost you considerably more (this is the case in Italy, but especially in Venice).
-The best food in Venice, in my opinion, is the ciccheti. I could come to Venice and eat ciccheti and be extremely happy. Venice has excellent bar food. The main dishes are good, but not memorable. If you like squid ink, you'll love the pasta.
-If you come in the summer, be prepared for long lines at all of the tourist spots. Coming here in March was perfect. The most I had to wait to get into a church or a museum was 10 minutes. Consider coming in the low season.
-The people here are not friendly. They are not mean, just not friendly. Be assertive when you want to order, be prepared to flag down restaurant staff for more drinks or for the bill.
-Have a spritz. Or two.
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