Day 1 Arrival

We arrived in Venice with NO incidents (amazingly!) I arrived from Berlin, Anabel from Paris and Annette from the U.S. We had arranged for a water taxi transfer to Venice and our taxi service met us and escorted us to the dock where we boarded our little speedboat for a thrilling ride to Venice where we were delivered directly to the little square of our apartment early afternoon. We were met at the dock and introduced to our lovely apartment.

First view of Venice

And another view

Our apartment was lovely and with a back garden that opened onto the Grand Canal.

Back yard

First things first...we needed LUNCH! So we walked to our local square about a 5 minute walk from our apartment where we enjoyed a sumptuous lunch of orechiette with asparagus and smoked ricotta shared between me and Anabel (Anabel's first ever orechiette), pasta with anchovies and a salad for Annette then a main course of branzino with eggplant side for me, cutlet Milanese for Anabel and delicious local white wine before going to our neighborhood grocery and a produce stand for some supplies. 
The square was clearly a local neighborhood gathering place with lots of kids playing, mothers chatting and in general a sense of community hubbub. 

By now it was late in the afternoon and with Annette rapidly fading with jet lag we went back to our apartment to organize, unpack and catch our breath after a perfect first day in Italy.