VENICE

Venice is one of the most romantic cities in Europe. If you are ready to experience some great cuisine, art, and some impressive beautiful sunsets on the Gondella, this is a magical place to be!

Anthony and I wanted to make the most out of this trip and chose to go during Carnival.

The Carnival usually runs from end of January to Mid February. It's a huge festival including masks, costumes, live music, parades, balls, and many other private and local events held by hotels, and entertainment companies. The carnival ends with the Christian celebrations of Lent, forty days before Easter.

Venice is built on more than 100 small islands in a lagoon in the Adriatic sea. Venice has no roads for driving, just canals, including the Grand Canal, lined with Renaissance and Gothic palaces. The Central square-Piazza San Marco contains St. Mark's Basilica, and the Campanile bell tower, offering some amazing views of the city's red roofs .

We stayed at the Plazzina Grassi hotel, designed by Philippe Starck, which is located in the San Marco square area. It's a beautiful, modern hotel, with exceptional service! Make sure you book the top floor with private terrace to really take in this beautiful city!

There is two options to get around. 1) take public transport/water taxi, 2) private boats, which you can negotiate if you are spending half or full days, and the best part, you end up getting an automatic tour guide on your trip. They are willing to wait at each spot, most times 30 minutes to 1.5 hours. Most of these private transports also take cash or credit cards, but you get a better deal with cash.

We started our trip walking around (make sure to bring comfortable shoes), to get an idea of what this city had to offer. We loved the architecture, all the beautiful masks, costumes, and how everyone was so in character! Everyone was so friendly, proud and willing to stop to take pictures and chat. After our walk, we took a beautiful and very romantic ride on one of the many Gondella's that surrounded the canals. We ended the evening with a lovely dinner at the Osteria alle Testiere, for some delicious seafood!

After a delicious breakfast at the hotel, we ventured out to some of the biggest attractions in this gorgeous city like; The Piazza San Marco and St. Mark’s Basilica, as well as the Gothic masterpiece, Doge’s Palace. Just a short gondola ride from Doge’s Palace is the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, which is one of the world’s most illustrious modern art collections. If you like more traditional works from the Renaissance period, you will love the Galleria dell’Accademia, which houses several classics from this era.

Another interesting find, is the Bridge of Sighs, which is a white limestone masterpiece that the interrogation rooms of Doge’s Palace to the prison. But the most beautiful bridge in all of Venice has to be the Rialto Bridge. This beautiful bridge hangs over the Grand Canal with such presence.

If you want to pursue more artwork then the Museo Correr, is another one to visit, or explore an exciting mix of Renaissance and modern art at Punta della Dogana.

In between all these beautiful finds we had yet another fabulous meal at this little hidden gem for more seafood and a great selection of wines at the Antiche Carampane.

We walked off this amazing meal circling back to the San Marco square as we made our way back to the hotel for some much needed rest before our "Asian Glam" event.

If you like an evening of ballet, or live music, then the Teatro La Fenice, (which is a truly magnificent 1000-seat theatre), is a must. If you're interested in the history of Venice, a trip to either the Lace Museum or Fortuny Museum will take you on a journey of discovery. But whatever you do, you need to venture out to see Ca’ d’Oro — a Venetian-Gothic palace, which happens to be home to the Franchetti collection of Renaissance art.

All followed by dinner at the Quadri, where they serve more classic dishes with a chic vibe and overlooks San Marco square. It's also great for those instagram pics!

Rialto Bridge

The following day we decided on some Island hopping, and narrowed it down to three beautiful and must see when in Venice:

TORCELLO

1) TORCELLO - a small island with an ancient church and a fabulous michelen rated restaurant known as Locanda Cipriani, which I highly recommend, not only for it's food, but service and beautiful outdoor terrace. Many famous people have dined here like the Royal family, Hemingway, and Elton John. It's definitely a special place!

BURANO

2) BURANO - is a colorful fishing island known also for their lace/lace museum, bell tower, and many seafood restaurants. We loved discovering all the history of lace making and purchased a beautiful handmade runner for our home.

Burano

MURANO

3) MURANO- Is renowned for it's long tradtioan of glass making! Many visitors come each year to learn this ancient craft of glass making and to explore the Museo del Vetro. Make sure to book ahead if you want to make a glass piece of your own. This island is built in the Romanesque style, the Church of Santa Maria and San Donato has beautiful colorful mosaic floors and there is an ancient tale that it houses the bones of a slain dragon