Arriving in Venice

The first gondola the I saw! This is at the water bus stop right outside of Venice train station.

Venice is about 3 hours train ride from Florence. It was hard to keep Meredith occupied during the train ride. Once onboard, I took her to the dining car every half an hour for her to play around so her mum can get a break. We scrambled around in the train station before we boarded the train to find something that she will eat.

Arrived at Venice train station. Both mum and Meredith were tired after the train ride. There's no bench or chairs at Venice station to sit on. They waited for me in the train station lobby while I stood in line for half an hour to ask for direction to Murano Island and where to take the vaporetto (water bus).

After waiting for half an hour, the info desk guy pointed to the left and the vaporetto (water bus) stop was right there! Well, at least he told us which vaporetto to take to Murano. Venice train station is adjacent to the largest the vaporetto stop. We bought a three days vaporetto ticket for 30 euro per person. In this photo, mum and Meredith still looked tired. They were standing on the train station door and the vaporetto stop is right behind us.

Meredith settled into the water bus. She was puzzled by the rocking motion of the boat. She had never ride in a boat before and everything around her was surrounded by water. She kept looking at the various boats passing by in front of us.

Her anxiety soon turned into amazement as the magic of Venice - a world surrounded by water unfold before her eyes.


The Grand Canal. This is the Westheimer Blvd. or I should say I-10 of Venice. Transport barges, gondolas, water buses, DHL boats delivering parcels and water ambulances crowded this main waterway in Venice.

Despite the hustle and bustle of the main canals, there many smaller canals that motor boat cannot access. As the gondola glided into a small canal and the sound of wave washes against the centuries old doorsteps, Venice seems to transport you back a few centuries to the days of its full glory.