Happiness and Heather: Top Tips for Visiting Venice, Italy

I recently had the wonderful experience of going to Venice, Italy. It has been on my Bucket List for years. And honestly, it is an absolutely, breathtaking city. However, there isn't much to do in terms of major sights to see. Once you see St. Marc's, all we had left to do was shop and eat (not too many complaints here). I'm sure if we had done a little more research beforehand, we could have found something to do.

Tips:

1) Research possible museums to visit. We showed up and all we knew about was St. Marc's Basilica. This means we ended up wandering around all day searching for something to do besides shopping, eating, and drinking.

2) Venice is sinking. I don't think it will become like the lost city of Atlantis any time soon. But this does cause frequent flooding, especially during rainy seasons. Don't believe me? Check out this article from NBC News here.

3) Venice does smell. I will not lie. We went in the winter and that is supposedly when the smell isn't bad. I beg to differ. In certain parts, where there is no water, yeah it doesn't smell. As soon as you cross a canal though. Ooof. Just a word to the wise: always expect a smell.

4) Venice has two airports. One is the main one that can be accessed via normal means (train, bus, car). Then, there is this little tiny one that can only be accessed by a bus that fills up really quickly, aka the one I had to use. I think all of the RyanAir and Wizz flights go here.

5) I am way too nice and indecisive for Italy. Getting onto the bus, I kept getting shoved aside and was refused to be allowed onto the bus because there wasn't any more sitting room. Thankfully, someone convinced the driver that we can just sit on the floor, which I didn't mind. Which leads to my next piece of advice...

6) HANG ON FOR DEAR LIFE IN A BUS DRIVEN BY AN ITALIAN. Oh my goodness you guys. If we had wrecked, I would have been done for. I was sitting on the walkway in a charter bus with nothing in front of me. It was scary. He was driving like he was behind the wheel of a Ferrari. Thankfully it was only a thirty minute drive. My heart nearly stopped for all thirty.

7) You might get to see a Google Street View Team Member. These are the people who record the pictures on Google Maps for us. You might even see me! I sped right past her after taking this picture.