Easter in Venice, Italy

Have I told you how spoiled I am? Seriously, I am one lucky girl.

For Easter, my husband had the wonderful idea to go to Venice, Italy for the weekend. Since it is only a 4 1/2 drive, we thought it would be the perfect location for a nice, relaxing, romantic Easter weekend. And that it was, my friends.

We packed up the car with Jack and our backpacks (yes, no suitcases for us travel pros) and were off for a long weekend. I had done some research and found that parking in Venice proper was quite expensive so I bought some 72 hour ferry passes online and we parked at the airport, which was much more affordable. Plus, we got to take an hour ferry ride into Venice which was a fabulous way to enter the city and was just gorgeous! No one ever thinks to park in the airport if they aren't flying but I always try to be a step ahead. ;)

We arrived in our charming hotel, Hotel Lux, just in time for sunset and dinner. Our hotel was just off St. Mark's Square, so we chose a nice little Italian restaurant by the water. My favorite thing about Europe is that Jack can join us wherever we go, including restaurants so he joined us as well. Although the weather said it was supposed to rain, it ended up being a gorgeous day.

The next morning we woke up and took a boat ride over to Murano to visit the glass factories and to shop. I had planned that we would spend half of the day there but we enjoyed our time so much, we stayed until it was almost time for dinner. And the weather was simply incredible! We shopped until we dropped and then we got some drinks. ;)

After Murano, we went back to the hotel to get Jack. We walked around the city a bit, taking in the gorgeous scenery. If you haven't been to Venice you must be sure to put it in your bucket list, especially since it is supposedly sinking.

Jason and I then went to The Hardrock Cafe for dinner and drinks. I know it isn't Italian but one of "our things" to do is to go to The Hardrock in every city we are in, so of course we had to include the one in Venice. After they "stole" all of our money (j/k but we spent wayyy to much!), we went out in St. Mark's Square to take pictures of the square since it was high tide and the square was flooding (don't worry, we were forewarned). Then we took a romantic stroll so Jason could take some more fabulous night shots. He is such an amazing photographer, as you will probably notice from here on out.  

Can you see me under the pink umbrella below?

Easter Sunday we wanted to go to mass at St. Mark's Basilica but the lines were crazy long and it was quite crowded. We settled with walking around Venice for the day. We walked by the Rialto Bridge and went to the Rialto market and then took a very romantic gondola ride. God must have been looking out for us because it was only sunny for the one hour we happened to be on our gondola ride. We even lucked out with our gondolier because he sang a bit for us. Gosh I love Italia!! :)

Sunday evening we had yet another fabulous Italian dinner. I bet if I lived in Italy, I would gain 10 lbs. just from looking at all the amazing food. Seriously, by far the best food ever (not being biased or anything)!!

The next morning, Jason and I spent the afternoon walking around and shopping (and eating, of course) before we had to make our way back to Salzburg.

Our trip to Venice was so lovely and I am so glad we had a chance to experience it together. It was one of the best trips we've had in a long time and it was so nice to be able to show Jason one of my favorite cities in the world (that just happens to be a part of my heritage). I can't wait to go back!!

Ti amo, Italia!! Ciao Bella!!