We took a bus from the airport to Piazzale Roma, the last place that cars/buses can drive in Venice. Our hotel was located just across the Grand Canal from there, near Santa Lucia train station. We wanted to be near the train station since we planned to go on day train trips with the rail pass we purchased. Since there was no land transportation available, we decided to walk to the hotel with our luggage. It was quite a picture of us struggling to get our 4 suitcases plus carry-ons up and over several bridges paved in stone. We broke into laughter. Little did we know that we could have taken a vaporetto for 2 euro each from the bus plaza to a block away from the hotel. Oh well, lesson learned. We got to our hotel, the La Locanda di Orsaria and were delighted. It was quite small, only about 12 rooms. It reminded us of a B&B and an extensive continental breakfast is included. Our room was on the 3rd floor and there is no elevator. More luggage hauling but it was worth it. The room was clean, large, and had windows that could be opened overlooking the street below. After settling in, we walked to St. Marks Square. It was about a half hour walk through narrow streets, over canals, and passing great smells from the restaurants and markets. We knew we had several days of sightseeing ahead of us and were quite tired from our trip. We headed back towards our hotel and stopped for dinner at a restaurant just across the Grand Canal from the hotel. We ate outside with a table with a great view of the canal and we both had what seemed to be the best spaghetti we had ever had. I'm sure the ambiance had a lot to do with it.