03/24/26 Trip to Italy, Day 1 & 2, Tuesday & Wednesday, Utah to Paris to Venice

Flying into Italy

Becky, Ruth and I decided to take a trip to Italy -- in honor of our dad, who passed away July, 2025. He always wanted to go there. His parents came from Salerno, Italy as immigrants when they were young.

We found tickets for a really great price late last year and then Becky took the initiative to plan and plan and plan! She went to a lot of work and put together a really fun itinerary.

Ruth was not able to go the same dates we had chosen so she overlapped us about 4 days and then did her trip for 10 more days after we left.

We left Bryce’s house in Salt Lake City at 11:30 am to ensure time for 3:10 p.m. flight. Plenty of time. Security was not bad.

Our flight was delayed a little bit and left at 4 p.m. Utah time. We still arrived in France about 8:15 a.m. Paris time...they were 7 hours ahead of us.

Paris airport was crazy! Long walks up and down stairs. We had to go through security again . Then take a train and a bus to get to our flight and then walk up a large staircase to get to the plane. Whew!

Italy, here we come!

Painted walls inside the Paris Airport

Kevin and Becky in the airport

Time was weird. Basically we flew from 3 p.m. - midnight and 4-6 am Utah time. (about 15 hours?!)

We hardly slept, maybe an hour on the 10 hr flight to Paris and then we slept the whole time on the Paris to Venice flight. So maybe 3 hours of sleep. We were fed dinner early in our flight and then breakfast at close to midnight (our time) and we look outside and it’s already sunrise!!!

We arrived in Venice at 11:30 a.m. Venice time.

Our first of many pizzas! Yum!

We had all these meals before we got to bed:

Meals —- breakfast with Bryce

Lunch — airport at roosters taco and chips and salsa

Dinner—lasagna or chicken and rice on airplane

Breakfast— egg calzone on airplane

Lunch — on patio at restaurant in Venice

Dinner— fancy restaurant in Venice

Gelato

Bed!! Finally!! Basically two full days in one!

When we arrived in Venice, we took a bus from the airport into the city. About a 15-20 minutes ride.

We were right in the hub of the city. Train, bus and water taxi all convene very close to our Airbnb. Excellent location!!

We had delicious lunch outside— pizza and gnocchi. Becky was able to get gluten free. So yummy!!

We tried to get to our Airbnb but Becky’s gps took us on a wild adventure. Ended up hauling our luggage up and down stairs and across cobble roads to find out our place was actually very close to where we had been. Oops!! It was probably a couple mile adventure before it ended!

Eventually we found our place and chilled for a little while. Becky and Kevin went for a walk around town…so much to see and so close by. Beautiful canals and stores. Cathedrals etc.

Andy and I went out after a little while and found the St Mary of Nazareth church. It was spectacular. Sculptures and paintings with so much detail from the 1600s. There was no entrance fee.

Afterward we bought a water taxi ticket ($25 euros for one day, 35 for two days unlimited each… $70 euros) and rode out to Moreno island and back. We got a 48 hr ticket so we’ll use it to get to St marks Thursday and maybe go back and get off at some of the stops.

Cool deal…a lady came to me and gave me two free to the water taxi so Kevin and Becky didn’t have to buy a ticket!

The taxi got super busy crowded before we got back - like they were packing us in like sardines! haha...but it was a fun ride.

We found another fancy restaurant and had pizza and lasagna.

Gelato finished off the evening and a quick stop at the grocery for some breakfast yogurt and fruit.

Back to our place by 7:30 pm and totally exhausted. We all were asleep by 8 pm!!! Best sleep ever for me until 11 p.m. Then I woke up again at 1:30 a.m. feeling like I’ve slept enough.

So it’s now 2:30 am and I need try to sleep a bit more.