Venice, Italy Travel Guide

We absolutely adored Venice. As soon as we got off the bus, we were amazed at how dream-like it was. It is a city that is frozen in time and reminded us of Disneyland in the way that it is a created world. Venice is so rich in history and culture. We were so happy that we were able to see it when we did because we would not be surprised to see Venice completely disappear during our lifetime. It is so old and is decaying at a rapid rate. So if you have always wanted to see Venice, do it now!

We spent a total of two full days in Venice, plus one evening and one morning. For a good Venice experience, we would suggest planning two full days and either an evening or a morning to get the full experience.

First Evening:

When we first got to Venice, we just spent the evening wandering and getting lost. And it truly is the best experience we had in Venice. I highly suggest everyone takes a few hours and literally get lost in Venice. We really enjoyed peeking in all of the mask and glass shops, finding a pizza place for dinner and treating ourselves to a double scoop of real Italian gelato. It was the perfect way to get ourselves into the Venetian mood. As we wandered, we took pictures at literally every corner. This city is so picturesque, it is hard to not take hundreds of photos. The evenings seem to have less people which makes it much better for taking pictures and enjoying the atmosphere. 

Day 1:

We suggest starting your morning early. Find a bakery for some pastries for breakfast and get yourselves to St. Mark's Square.  If you can get there before 9:30 or 10:00, you will basically have the square to yourselves. Listen to the Rick Steves Audio Europe track for St. Mark's Square. 

After wandering around the Square listening to Rick, hop in line at St. Mark's Basilica. They open around 10:00, but the line starts forming by 9:30 so make sure you get a spot. The line moves quickly and it won't take too long to get into the Basilica. Make sure you have covered shoulders and knees, but if you don't they have brown plastic you can cover yourself with. Rick Steves also has another Audio Europe track for St. Mark's Basilica. Make sure to check it out while you're there. 

From St. Mark's Basilica, go to the Campanile. If you are lucky enough to be at the top of the tower during the half hour, you are in for a loud treat! You will get to see the bells as they ring the time. You will have amazing views of the city, so definitely take the time to make a stop here. 

From here, if you're ready for lunch, head away from St. Mark's. Everything close to the Square is quite a bit more expensive. We suggest heading towards the Frari Church.  If you can't wait to eat, continue past the Church for a really yummy pizza and calzone place we found behind the church. Not too far away from there is also a really good gelato stand. After you've had your fill, head back to the Frari Church for a calm tour of a beautiful building. Again, listen to Rick to learn more about the history of this beautiful church. 

After you've had a chance to cool down, you can wander around and head toward the Rialto Bridge. There are lots of cute shops and squares along the way. Take your time and soak up the Venetian-ness. Once you get to the Rialto Bridge, hop on a Vaporetto and go back to San Marco Square (St. Mark's Square).

Once there, go to the Correr Museum. It is on the opposite side of St. Mark's Basilica. Once there, buy tickets for the Doge's Palace. Your tickets will be good for a few days so you can choose if you want to go to Doge's Palace or if you want to check out the museums to end your day of sight seeing.

After the museums or the palace, find a place to eat some dinner, grab some gelato and if you have enough energy, spend some more time wandering around this seaside town in the evening. 

Day 2:

This day, set aside for spending on the islands of Murano and Burano. Know that the Vaporetto ride takes a long time to get there. So plan on at least 45 minutes of travel time to get to Murano and add another 30-45 minutes of travel time to get to Burano. Also know that most places won't open until 9:00 or 10:00 in the morning so you can't get too early of a start. When you are are on Murano, enjoy looking at all of the glass shops and purchase some souvenirs. Make sure that you have a safe way to get them home though! After you've had your fill of glass, hop on another Vaporetto and head to Burano. Once there, grab a pizza and some gelato for lunch before exploring this cute little island. There are lots of lace kiosks and stands to buy some famous lace if that's your thing. Also make sure to spend a lot of time wandering the streets and taking in the vibrant colors of the homes along the canals. 

From Burano, take another Vaporetto and head to San Marco's. This is another 45 minute (at least) boat ride. Once you get to the Square finish off the day with either the Doge's Palace and prisons or the Correr Museum. 

After find some of your favorite Italian food and get one last gelato as you enjoy your last evening in Venice. 

Eddie Bauer Travel Pillow Review

Pillows are a big deal when you travel. At least they are to me, because I have a lot of trouble sleeping while in transit. Knowing that we would be on long flights on our trip to Europe this summer we knew we would need to find a way to help me sleep on the airplanes. I have already detailed the sleep mask from Skoozzz that I used here.

I was also planning on taking an inflatable camping pillow that I won at the Adventure + Gear Fest, but then one day we were looking around the Eddie Bauer store in the mall, because that is what adventures do when they are at the mall.  We found a neck pillow there and I thought it felt ok. Most neck pillows I haven't been a big fan of but this one felt pretty good. Since Meagan had a coupon and there was a sale going on I decided to get it for our trip

We hadn't realized when looking at it before that it was actually a 2-in-1 pillow that could covert from a neck pillow into a small regular pillow. This was great because it meant I would have different options while flying so I could switch it up depending on how I was feeling.

The pillow is made with the soft bead stuffing. So you just have to unzip the back and you can pull out the fabric for the rectangular pillow and push the beads down into it. Then you push the fabric for the neck pillow into the little pocket and zip it closed.

The pillow is very comfortable in both of its forms. I used it on our long flights in conjunction with my sleeping mask to be able to sleep pretty well. Its versatility means that you can use it like a regular neck pillow or you can switch it to the rectangular form if you are lucky enough to have a window seat. It can also be used as a regular pillow in a pinch, for example when we got to Venice and the hotel pillows were as flat as pancakes.

This Eddie Bower travel pillow has two options for connecting it to your bag while walking through the airport or a city. There is a snap between the two ends of the pillow that you can loop through the handle on your carry on or backpack, there is also a loop on the back that can be hooked onto a carabiner.

Overall this pillow was a good choice for me and I will likely continue to use it on overnight flights. You can get it from Eddie Bauer here, or you can find a similar one on Amazon here.

St. Mark's Square: Piazza San Marco

St. Mark's Square or the Piazza San Marco in Italian is the main center of action in Venice. It is where a lot of historic places come together like the Doge's Palace, St. Mark's Basilica, the Campanile and the Museo Correa. It is also the home to some fancy restaurants. It is the place to see and be seen.

How to Get There:

Getting to St. Mark's Square is pretty easy. Follow the yellow signs or take the vaporetto and get off at either of the San Marco stops. Once you're there, be sure to check out the Rick Steves Audio Europe App and listen to the St. Mark's Square track. We suggest getting there early in the morning before things open (definitely before 10:00 am) to walk around and listen to the audio guide. You will learn a lot of history and learn the layout of the square. 

What You Will See:

Once you are there, it really is just a big square with buildings around it. At one end you will see St. Mark's Basilica and next to that you will see the Doge's Palace.  In front of those two buildings you will see the Campanile. On either side of the Piazza you will see two large restaurants with outdoor and indoor seating. Opposite of the Basilica is Museo Correa. 

Sum Up:

St. Mark's Square is the center of Venice. Lots of shops and stores are close to the square as well as most of the main historical sites of Venice. 

 

St. Mark's Campanile

When you are looking at St. Mark's Square in Venice, the most apparent building in the square is St. Mark's Campanile (or bell tower). It is tall, slightly crooked, and a beautiful red color and stands out amongst the white and creme colored buildings.

How to Get There:

If you are traveling by vaporetto, you can get off at any of the San Marco stops. If you are planning on walking, follow the yellow signs to San Marco. (Check out our post here for more details about getting around Venice.) Once you get to the square you will easily be able to see which building is the bell tower. 

The entrance to the Campanile is on the side of the tower that faces St. Mark's Basilica. You will enter the doors and buy your tickets. From there, you will stand in a very small line area and wait for the elevator to get to the top of the bell tower. The elevator only takes 12-15 people up at once, but the line does move pretty fast.  

What You Will See:

If you are lucky enough to time your visit on the half hour, you will be able to hear the bells ring at the top of the tower. We just happened to go up during the time the bells were ringing. It was such an amazing experience that we highly suggest that you go up while the bells are ringing. It is extremely loud though so if you have little kids, you might want to bring ear plugs for them. 

At the top of the tower you have amazing 360 degree views of the city. It was amazing to me to see how big Venice seemed from up there. It was also neat, and kind of sad, to see how many of the other bell towers and other buildings around Venice are severely leaning to one side due to the unstable foundation of the city. 

As you look out around the city, there are plaques that go with the Venice Panorama app that give you information about what you are looking at. It is a paid app and we did not know about it or download it before we were at the top of the tower, so we can't vouch for how well it works. It is a cool idea and we did wish we knew more of what we were looking at. If any of you have used it we would love to hear your experience with it!

Sum Up:

Visiting St. Mark's Campanile was one of my favorite things we did in Venice. It offers amazing, unique views of Venice. If you make it to the top on or around the half hour, you will be in for a treat of listening to the bells ring. Even though it is extremely noisy, it is such a unique experience and we highly recommend it. Visiting the bell tower is high on our list of Venice must do's and is totally worth the 8 euro price tag.

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Visiting Saint Mark's Basilica

While getting lost and wandering around the beautiful streets of Venice was one of my favorite things we did, Saint Mark's Basilica is definitely a main attraction to this seaside city. Located in Saint Mark's Square, and also known as Basilica San Marco in Italian, the Basilica is a beautiful piece of architecture on the outside and full of beautiful details on the inside.

How to Get There:

Getting to Saint Mark's Basilica is pretty easy because it is one of the main features of Venice. There is lots of signage pointing you towards the basilica if you choose to walk. Or you can get off at either of the San Marco stops on a vaporetto. Saint Mark's Basilica is located at the East end of Saint Mark's Square, right next to Doge's Palace. 

To get inside the building, you will need to stand in line. The line starts at the front of the building and heads towards the Doge's Palace. They do not allow large bags to be brought into the basilica but they do have a bag check. To get there, head north of the basilica, past the lion statues into a little alley way between the yellow and white buildings. If you get lost or confused, just ask someone near-by and they can tell you where to go. There is also a map of where to check your bag near the entrance to the basilica. The bag check is free, but lasts only an hour. 

Also to get inside the building, you will need to be covered. They do not allow bare shoulders or knees inside of the basilica. If you do come with bare shoulders or knees, they do have these plastic table cloths that you can wrap around yourself to cover the bare skin. 

What You Will See:

To get inside of the church is free, and within the church there are areas that you can pay to go see. We only did the free things and it was still a beautiful experience. We suggest listening to Rick Steves Audio Europe app and following along on the St. Mark's Basilica track (the track starts with the outside of the church). It took us about 30 minutes to see the free parts of the church and this included listening to Rick. 

Inside the basilica you will see lots and lots of mosaics. They are all over the place! The floors, the ceilings, the walls, everywhere. The mosaics were my favorite part of the church. They were so detailed and so beautiful! Because Saint Mark's Basilica is an active, working church, they do not allow pictures inside. 

Saint Mark's Basilica is a beautiful place and is a nice way to take a little bit of a break. It is dark and cool and a nice place to relax for a bit before heading back into Venice. The lines to get into Saint Mark's can often be quite long and get especially long during the afternoon. The best time to go is first thing in the morning when they open. But be aware that the line starts forming at least 30 minutes prior to them opening the doors. 

Sum Up:

Saint Mark's Basilica is one of the main attractions to see in Venice. Located in Saint Mark's Square, it is a free site to see with paid options inside. Without doing the paid options it takes about a half an hour. There is a Rick Steves Audio Europe track to listen to while you are visiting the basilica that gives you lots of information and neat history about this beautiful church.

A 3 Day Travel Guide to Paris

We spent a solid 3 days in Paris and felt like we saw everything we wanted to see. I'm sure if we stayed longer, we would have found some amazing hidden gems. But in 3 days we were able to hit lots of major landmarks.

After our experience, we found that there were a few things we could have done better. So while this travel guide is not exactly how we saw everything, we did see everything in this guide and want to share from our experiences.

Before we start, here are a few suggestions of things to do before you start your trip.

• Hotel: Make sure to get a hotel near a metro stop. We suggest going through Hotels.com. When you are looking at hotels, make sure to check the comments from previous guests. They are usually good about saying if the hotel is close to a metro stop or not. We stayed at this hotel and it was SO CLOSE to a metro stop, but it was also a teeny, tiny room which we were not expecting. 
• Paris Museum Pass: You can't go to Paris and not get a museum pass. It saves you so much money! And it lets you into so many different sites around Paris. Some of the sites even let you skip the waiting line if you have the Museum Pass. We bought our passes just at the airport near baggage claim, but you can also buy them online and have them mailed to you before you go or you can pick them up in Paris when you get there. 
• Metro Passes: Check out our post here to get all of the details on what and how to get the passes. 
• Apps: Make sure to download these four apps before you get to Paris. 

Day 1:

Because you're in Paris, probably the first thing you will want to see is the Eiffel Tower. This is one of the attractions in Paris that opens at 9:00 am during peak season (mid-June through early September). You can check out our post here for specific details. Plan on spending 2-3 hours at this site, especially if you are planning on walking up the stairs! 

**For another cool Eiffel Tower experience, try going 30-60 minutes before sunset so you can watch the sun setting and see the tower lit up. While we did not do this on our trip, this was something I saw recommended after we were already home**

While at the Eiffel Tower, you may want to stop and eat at one of their restaurants or cafes. We found that the cafe had delicious food and wasn't too terribly priced. 

After viewing the Eiffel Tower, make sure to take some time back on the ground to take some pictures of the whole tower. When we were there, the grassy area in front of the tower was closed. So we just went across the Seine and were still able to get amazing pictures. 

From the Eiffel Tower, we suggest heading to the Arc de Triomphe. Check out our post here to find out details about the tricky way to go to get to the Arc. While at the Arc, we definitely suggest climbing up to the top if you can! After the Eiffel Tower, it might be a lot for people in poor health or for young children. Our legs definitely hurt after our first day but the stairs were worth it!

For an easy end to the day, we suggest going to Napoleon's Tomb and the Army Museum. While we didn't actually go inside the museum (because it was closed when we got there), from what we hear it is a good place to visit. Check out our post here about Napoleon's Tomb.

At this point we suggest finding a place to grab dinner. Our favorite places were little crepe stands and shops.

After dinner we headed back to our hotel to unwind and relax for the evening because we were so tired from touring all day! If you're up for it, head back to the Eiffel Tower to see it at night all lit up. The Arc de Triomphe at night is also an amazing sight.

Day 2:

The second day we suggest going to the old city center. By getting off at the Cite metro stop, you are within walking distance of 3 amazing sights in Paris. 

First, head over to Sainte Chapelle. This was my favorite place we saw in all of Paris. Plan on spending at least an hour there. Ben wanted to stay longer and I now wish that we would have. 

After Sainte Chapelle, go over to Notre Dame and wait in line to climb the towers. Check out Ben's post here about the towers. This was my second favorite thing we did in Paris. 

After the towers, grab some lunch at a crepe stand across the street from Notre Dame and start to listen to the Rick Steves Audio Europe App. Go to the track called Historic Paris. As you eat your crepes and start listening to Rick, you can stand in line to enter the cathedral. Even if the line looks long, it moves pretty fast. Check out Ben's post here about seeing the inside of Notre Dame. 

When you come out of the church, if you have time and want to cool down a bit, head on over to the Archeological Crypts at the opposite end of the plaza. 

After the Crypts, continue listening to Rick and take the Historic Paris walking tour. Sadly we did not have time to do this tour and I really wish that we had.  

If you aren't into seeing the Crypts, or you don't want to do the walking tour, you could go to the Louvre and Orsay Museums. But, we wouldn't suggest them, except maybe going to the outside of the Louvre Museum in order to see the glass pyramids. Check out my post about the Louvre here and why you probably don't need to see it.

Day 3:

This last day, we suggest spending in Versailles. It is such a beautiful place and you can literally spend all day there. Make sure to take into account transit time getter there. Since it is outside of the main city center area of Paris, it does take a little bit of extra time getting there but it is so worth it. See my detailed post about Versailles here. 

And there you have it! 3 days in Paris! We loved our time in Paris and are so grateful that we got to experience one of the most popular cities in the world. It is so popular for a good reason. There are so many things to see and do, but don't over schedule yourself. Take your time and really enjoy the place you are in. Look for the beauty and the details and take lots of pictures! But also spend time in the moment. I think we had a good balance of enjoying our time in the moment and enjoying our time through camera lenses. Plan and prepare, but don't freak out when plans don't go your way. 

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Visiting the Palace of Versailles

Visiting Versailles was one of our favorite days we spent in Paris. Although it is outside of the city center and away from the other main attractions of Paris, for us it was definitely worth setting aside a good part of a day to see it. Château de Versailles, or Palace of Versailles in English, is a beautiful palace with amazing details inside as well as out. The grounds are expansive and you could spend a long time just in the gardens. Turned into a palace by Louis XIV, this former hunting lodge has a long history of being the center of Parisian culture for over 70 years during the reign of Louis XIV. Filled with gold, detailed paintings on walls and ceilings, and beautiful, intricate floors, Château de Versailles is a feast for the eyes and a highlight of any trip to Paris.

How to Get There:

From Paris get to the Invaldes stop using the Paris metro. From there, get on the Yellow C line (an RER train) and get off at the Versailles Château Rive Gauche stop. From there you will need to walk a few minutes to get to the palace. For specific directions from your location, make sure to use the Paris Metro App. Plan on the trip taking about an hour to get to the château. Because Versailles is not close to the city center, your metro tickets will need to be good for Zone 5. If you are buying a multi-day metro ticket, take the time to do the math to see if it is worth buying a multi-day for Zones 1-5 or if it is cheaper for you to buy a single ticket for Zone 5 for the day you want to go to Versailles. Because of the weather, we decided to do Versailles in the middle of our 3 day trip. We decided that it was easier for us to buy a 3-day ticket to all 5 zones. But if you are planning on doing Versailles on the first day of your trip or at the end, it might be cheaper to buy a day ticket for the day of your trip. 

What You Will See:

The best time to get to Versailles is right in the morning as it opens. There are not very many people on the plaza leading up to the palace which means you can get great pictures of the front of the building. The lines are also much shorter when it first opens. Plan on spending most of the day at Versailles if you want to see all three parts (main palace, gardens, and Marie Antoinette's estate). We were there from 10:00 am until about 4:00 pm. 

Once you get through security, ask for a map from the desk right outside the security check. They will give you directions to the main ticket counter and the start of the palace. If you have a Museum Pass, you can skip the ticket line and go straight into the palace. They offer free audio guides for the palace that give you information on almost every single thing. We did not use these guides so we cannot vouch for them, but it seems like if you wanted extreme details about each room, that would be the audioguide to take. We just used the Versailles track on the Rick Steves Audio Europe app. It gave good information and we only had trouble in one spot because part of the tour on the app wasn't open when we were at Versailles. But this is pretty typical of the palace; different parts are opened and closed at different times throughout the year. 

Throughout the palace, you will see lots of ornate and beautiful rooms. Some of our favorites were the chapel, the Hall of Mirrors and the bedchambers. It is amazing to see the expanse of the palace and even though it is quite large, rooms can get very crowded so just be prepared for that. Also, when you are walking from floor to floor to get to different rooms, be careful on the stairs; there are deep, worn down places in the steps from so many people walking on the stairs over so many years. Use the hand rails and closely watch your feet! After you exit the palace, the side of the building near the security check has a large, formal restaurant and a smaller cafe. We ate at the cafe for lunch and were happy with our meal, even if it was on the expensive side. There are also gift shops and free restrooms in this area with plenty of signage to point you in the right direction. 

Behind the palace is where you can see and enter the gardens. The Versailles track on the Rick Steves Audio Europe app continues with the gardens outside. Take your time and wander through them. They are so beautiful and maintained so perfectly. There are lots of groves with fountains in the middle of them that are located to the left and right of the main plaza. These fountains are not on except for certain times and days. If you wish to see the fountain shows, the price for entry is more expensive and is not included in the Museum Pass. We did not see the fountain shows but poked our heads in to see some of the fountains and they were beautiful. 

Because the gardens are so huge, there are options besides walking to get around. They offer golf carts and bikes that you can rent to help you and your family get around. There is also a small "train" that takes people up to the Marie Antoinette Estates. We walked the whole time we were there but it really did make us extremely tired. But there are plenty of food and snack carts and states to get some treats. The cheapest place we found to get gelato was in Petite Venice (Little Venice). It is a little place next to the Grand Canal where Louis XIV housed gondoliers he brought in from Venice to drive gondolas in his Grand Canal!

The third area in the Château de Versailles is the Domain Marie Antoinette (Marie Antoinette Estates). This area is away from the gardens and was meant to be a peaceful place away from the hustle and bustle of the palace. At the Domain, there are two small palaces and some smaller gardens. After we went through the palaces, we decided they looked a lot neater on the outside than on the inside, so they probably aren't worth going to unless you have a Museum Pass because they cost extra money. Also, if you are already tired from walking around the gardens, it might not be worth the extra energy to see this part of the Château. 

Sum Up:

Château de Versailles, Palace of Versailles, simply Versailles: it is a beautiful way to spend a day on your Parisian trip. Visiting the palace is a must followed by visiting the gardens at your own pace, while visiting the Domain Marie Antoinette might not be worth it to you to go see if you are already tired from the gardens or if you don't have a Museum Pass. There are lots of things to see at the Palace of Versailles and we highly recommend taking this day trip. 

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