My poor DIL has a sinus infection. Nine-and-a-half hours in an airplane cannot have been fun.

Added to that was the fact that our entry into Europe was at Frankfurt’s airport, site of my recent travel disasters.

But… the initial 8-1/2 hour flight from Vancouver to Frankfurt was smooth, the airline meals were tasty, our seats had tons of leg room, and we had both packed our positive attitudes.

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In Frankfurt, we cleared border control in the connections area in under 10 minutes, via a border guard who neither smiled nor spoke one single word.

With a 4 hour layover, planned based on previous horrendous experiences getting through Frankfurt border control, we settled in with pretzels and Milchkaffee.

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Our second flight was a short one hour hop to Venice, where we were met by a prearranged driver who took us to the Piazzale Roma, the nearest drop-off to the Villa Rosa Hotel on Calle Pesaro.

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From there it was a 700m walk to our hotel, up and back down the stairs of the Ponte della Costituzione (Constitution Bridge) which crosses the canal, and then along streets filled with Venetians and tourists. Cars are completely banned in the historic centre of Venice. Deliveries – and even police services – happen by boat.

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We got checked into our hotel, which will be our base of operations for 4 nights (we added two independent nights to our tour group’s booking), dragging our suitcases up four and a half flights of stairs to the “second” floor. This is why I pack light.

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After a very short nap for my DIL, and freshening up a bit, we headed out to explore food options.

We were too late for lunch and too early for typical Italian dinner but, because Venice is absolutely full of tourists even in what is supposed to be shoulder season, there were a few restaurants serving meals instead of just aperitivo.

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Sadly, our first Venetian food experience was just “okay”: good pasta, followed by bland entrees (roast chicken and calamari), served up unsmilingly and yet with Venice’s automatic 20% gratuity masking as a tourist surcharge. We were too tired to make a fuss, but DIL’s Italian cousin has given us better options for tomorrow night.

We walked along the Grand Canal until dusk, and then shared a pistachio cannoli that looked much better than it tasted.

Early to bed after 27 hours awake. Tomorrow we have an afternoon boat tour planned.