Skip to main content

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.  



Eating outside on the patio in Venice 
by the canal. 

Kevin Chase enjoying pizza on no sleep

Shelly and Becky 
Becky is eating her gluten free pizza

Kevin and Becky Chase

Andy walking up the many steps of the
bridge over the canal in Venice

Travel catching up to my guy

Venice




St. Mary's Church

St. Mary's Church




 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

08/23/25 Organ

The Washington First Ward Building was sold to the City of Washington. Part of my responsibilities included dispensing of the organ and pianos in the building (along with other things).  It is an Allen, approximately 1970s.  I put the organ up on the auction. There were a couple of other people that were bidding on it, but I ultimately won the bid (for under $100). On the day I won the bid I was able to arrange a mover!!! I paid $250 to have someone from the piano store move it to our house (I have no idea how he managed to get that into the back bedroom....but he did it!!!) Then, it wouldn't work. 😭 I waited for approximately 6 weeks before a guy (who had to be 80 years old) came down from SLC and repaired the organ. (So the organ wasn't actually broken, it had to do with the electricity and the house talking nicely to one another.) It took him a couple of hours to figure it out. He charged about $200 and voila! I have a working church organ.  Cool, eh?  Now, I got...
Post a Comment
Read more

06/27/25 Drew Ellerman's Retirement Party

Steve Whittekiend, Kelly Carlson in front Mayor Kress Staheli in back Thad Seegmiller back of head Police Chief Jason Williams, Councilman Troy Belliston Jordan Hess, Councilman Bret Henderson, Finance Brian Brown Mayor Kress Staheli and Councilman Craig Coats Danice Bulloch (former City Recorder), Shelly Griffin Hana Park and Tara Pentz (current recorders) April and Drew Ellerman April & Drew Ellerman, Kathy Spring (former assistant to Drew) Bonnie Baker (current assistant) and Drew Drew  
Post a Comment
Read more

03/28/26 Trip to Italy, Day 5, Saturday, Florence

We stopped at a local restaurant and got some breakfast tarts and then went to the Academia and saw the statue of David and had a tour. We returned to the same Restaurant and had panini sandwiches for lunch. Then we went to the Uffizi Museum for another tour. We had yummy gelato and took a rest for a while.  We walked through the leather market and to a cool bridge. We walked around the city awhile into we came to a restaurant that was super cute and we ate outside. We had ravioli and pizza. We walked a bit more after dinner and then came back and played games. Academia Statue of David A bum shot Kevin and a cello One of the first pianos ever Early pianos Art in the Uffuzi The ceilings!  Art in the Uffuzi Art in the Uffuzi Bridge of Sighs, Florence Shelly in the Bridge  Florence Florence Andy and Shelly in the Uffuzi Art in the Uffuzi Florence Florence Trash bins in Florence Restaurant in Florence Outside in the street...so quaint! Restaurant in Florence Restaurant ...
Post a Comment
Read more