Day Two: April 3, 2024

Let me tell you a little about my apartment. It is in Canaregio on a large canal which connects the Grand Canal with the lagoon. It is a convenient location as it is about a 7 minute walk to the train station and the vaporetto stop (Guglie) for the airport boat is right outside my door.

There are lots of restaurants and wine bars lining the canal, plus a fish market and produce market a few doors down. Two doors down is a wine shop where one can bring your own liter bottle to fill up from their barrels. Cheap and seriously decent wine. I also tried a digestive there made from artichoke… bitter but actually quite nice. And a few doors down from that is wonderful bakery which also sells pastries and salumi (charcuterie meats.)

The garbage boat stops right in front of my apartment building every single day except Sunday — those who tell you Venice stinks probably have never actually ever been here… the streets of NYC sweltering in the summer heat is something to complain about!

My building is only three stories tall but there are taller buildings in the area as I am right next to the Ghetto. This is the ORIGINAL Jewish ghetto, established in 1516. To accommodate the Jewish population in it’s heyday, the buildings gained stature rather than expanse. The area continues to serve as the heart of the Jewish culture in Venice, with five historical and active synagogues and a notable restaurant, Gam Gam, run by one of them. Note, despite my location and current anti-zionist protests around the world, I have not seen any such gatherings here.

My apartment is located on the 1st floor which means it is on the 2nd floor for Americans. I have a nicely sized one bedroom. Nothing fancy but everything thoughtfully designed. It has plenty of light, a small refrigerator, dishwasher, microwave/air fryer, tea kettle, and Italian stovetop coffee maker. The WiFi works well. The heating and air conditioning both work great. I have a bidet in the bathroom. There is a full length mirror in the hallway — very important feature which many places forget to add! The washing machine is also a dryer and is located in the bathroom. It works very well. The only negative so far has been the size of the shower, it is miniscule. Having the extra large heated towel rack makes up for it as it can accommodate my outfit for the day as well as the towel. Ahhh… feeling warm and cozy is an under appreciated luxury.

A short walk away is one of our favorite areas for restaurants and wine bars, along the Misericordia canal. It is bustling from afternoon to late evening. One could do a decent pub crawl there if they felt so inclined… clearly not speaking from experience, obviously.

There is also a nice wine bar in the ghetto, Tappo, with a back garden. I took some new classmate friends there tonight after we did a walking tour of the 21st century architecture in Venice… a short tour lol. One classmate is German, and the other is Austrian, different ages and nationalities and yet we apparently all share a similar sense of humor… kaput is indeed a funny German word.

The one thing I didn’t anticipate about my neighborhood was the flooding. In the winter here, Venice often floods at the lowest areas, a phenomena called Acqua Alta, aka high water.  Our second night here we came back after an evening out and the sidewalk was impassable. Thank you Google Maps for leading us through a maze to come around from the rear which avoided the flooding. In one of my closets is a couple pairs of ugly acqua alta boots which fit over ones shoes, basically the equivalent of a Disney Park rain poncho for one’s feet. I downloaded a special app which will alert me to any additional flooding with specific locations around the city. The photo below shows my street with the only dry spot directly in front of my building’s door!

Buona Notte!! Thanks for letting me share this journey with you all!
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