Come Fly with me, Jetset Romeo!

We couldn’t believe how lucky we were. We had the entire Air France First Class section all to ourselves! Romeo only had to be in his bag for take off and landing!

We’ve Arrived!

A water taxi speeds us to the Il Palazzo

It is always heaven when the door opens to our favorite suite in the world. It is The Royal Suite, Room 209 at the Il Palazzo.

Let’s kick off our shoe and relax a little bit

We took a little nap before going to dinner at Harry’s Bar on our first night

Tony is ready for dinner at Harry’s Bar. So is Romeo.

Harry’s Bar is one of the happiest places on earth!

We were seated at the best table in the house, the highly coveted corner table at Harry’s Bar.

While we were at dinner, the staff turned the bed down and laid out my nightgown and Tony’s pajamas. I felt like queen!

The next morning we banished jet lag with yoga!

Lunch at Enoteca All Acciugheta

We ate like real Venetians, even trying sardines!

Shopping time! I found the perfect boots!

This looks like a very happy girl!

We met our old friend for lunch at her palazzo on the Grand Canal and then she treated us to a tour of her childhood home, the famous Palazzo Mocenigo which she was restoring. It is this entire building.  Truly grand!

This is only one of many reasons Cindy loves shopping in Venice.  She makes a beeline for this shop on each trip!

Tony and Romeo stroll across Piazza San Marco

Cindy flashes a smile

We ate radicchio from Treviso practically every day. It is a seasonal specialty in February

Don’t fall in!

We love walking the red carpet back to our room every night after dinner

If only we could start every day like this!

Another day, another romantic lunch at Riviera.

The children of Venice were ready for Carnevali.

It was fun to take the traghetto back to San Marco. For those who don’t know, this is a gondola that carries people back and forth across the Grand Canal. Usually you stand up or try to anyway!

A perfect golden moment

This is our hotel from the outside. The Il Palazzo is a special part of the Bauer Grunwald. Our suite the third floor from the top where you see the gothic pointed windows and the red elbow pillows along the balcony.

The beautiful sunset view of Santa Maria Salute from our suite

We also look out at the Punta Della Dogana, the contemporary art museum restored and funded by Francois Pinault. It was previously the Customs House ofVenice.

Sunday nights in Venice are sort of quiet. On this evening we had dinner in the lounge of The Gritti Palace. We love hotel club sandwiches!

Our room seems to bring out Cindy’s inner princess

Tony indulged in a bottle of rare Gaja & Rey chardonnay offered by Maurice

It seemed that Tony disappeared for a while every day. I couldn’t figure out what he was up to until Valentine’s Day when he presented this custom made valentine that he had created for me by an artist.

Here’s the love of my life!

Can life be any sweeter than this?

On Valentine’ s Day we took a gondola to lunch

I thought I had on the perfect shoes for a gondola ride, but the Venetians thought it was funny that I had my bare ankles showing on a cold day! I guess it is a California Girl thing!

Tony makes all my dreams come true!  Romeo’s too!

Romeo regally glides by one of our favorite wine bars!

The golden couple celebrate their last day in Venice with a Valentine lunch at Riviera and dinner at Harry’s Bar.

We love to stroll along the Zattere

Everything in Venice is so beautiful!

Velvet jackets from famous designer Fiorella Mancini were the perfect Venetian Valentine gifts. She strikes a pose with us in this photo. What a wonderful 9 days we had in Venice before leaving the next morning for Part two of this trip, a quick weekend in Paris where the highight was visiting Coco Chanel’s private apartment and the Chanel Haute Couture Salon–another spectacular Valentine’s day surprise planned by Tony! More about that trip in another post.