Venice Day 2

The gondolas are covered nightly. This was first thing in the morning when not many people are out and about. When researching info about Venice, I read a lot of people saying to get out early in the morning before all the tourists are out. Well they weren't kidding! It was difficult to walk in St Mark's Square because there were sooooo many people in Venice. And not only that but a lot of the time you'd run into large tour groups with a guide. Try getting through/around those people, lol.

Macen started his morning off with chasing pigeons, AGAIN.

St. Mark's Basilica

We couldn't take pictures inside so this is the sum of it. Very beautiful!

Campanile di San Marco

We took an elevator to the top of bell tower to get a view of the city. We were among the first group to go up at 9am and the bells were ringing. Macen didn't like it and kept saying "Let's get outta here"

St. Mark's Square

The city

Doge's Palace


Gelato

We made it our goal to try as much as the gelato as we could. It was everywhere and if I remember correctly we tried strawberry, lemon, chocolate, cookies n cream, caramel, dolce latte, stracciatella, and mint. Strawberry or lemon ended up being our favorite - it was a toss up because it was perfect warm weather and those flavors were perfect after walking around everywhere. Macen even had some and he has refused ice cream the last couple of summers.


Basilica St Maria del Salute

On the steps in front of the church. Macen loved playing on these steps.

We actually went to this church the previous day but by the time we got there it was closed so we went back. We could take pics without flash. There was a mass that afternoon while we walked through it.

Macen took this pic of us on the side of the church on a bridge. He is quite the photographer!

Wandering

This is what the alleys looked like. You just walk from alley to alley, bridge to bridge to get where you are going. Some alleys are very small, maybe enough for 2 people to walk shoulder to shoulder and others are wider. Also in my research, a lot of people said don't have an iterinary just walk around and see Venice for what it is away from the tourists. We did a good job of that getting lost several times (as much as you can get lost on a small island) and we enjoyed wandering around, taking it all in.

The weather is beautiful, the food is good, the ice cream cold and delicious and we are having a wonderful time. The only problem is that my camera's battery is dead and we didn't bring the USB cord for Shantel's camera so you are going to have wait for the rest of the vacation pictures and stories until this weekend when we have recovered from our vacation.

Venice Day 1- Cont'd

Doge's Palace

View from the interior of the bridge.

The Bridge of Sighs

Hard Rock Cafe

The view we had from our table at Hard Rock. Apparently, this is the most popular spot to catch a gondola ride ans were we got on our gondola.

Gondola Ride

I was trying to get all 3 of us on the ride but I failed as you can see. While we were eating and watching others get their cruise, there was a photographer taking pics you could buy and if you wanted a bottle of wine for the cruise, they had some on hand for an additional price. We decided prior to the ride we wanted the pic and the bottle of wine. The photographer disappeared about 2 couples in front of us and they ran out of wine right before our turn to get on a gondola.

We went under a bridge here. There are over a hundred bridges in Venice connecting you from one neighborhood and canal to another. All different kinds of bridges - wooden, wrought iron, brick, long, short, wide, etc.

View of the Rialto Bridge from the gondola.

Rialto Bridge

Views of the Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge

Smaller canal

I really like this pic. It's something you see constantly throughout Venice and it just looks calm and peaceful.

This is the hotel we stayed at with an entrance to arrive by water taxi. We didn't opt for this mode of transportation due to the outrageous cost of it. They pick you up at the airport and its about a 30-40 min ride to the entryway for 50-100 Euro. I read various prices but translated to dollars it wasn't going to be under $60. The water bus worked great for us and for much less.

Venice Day 1

Well we made it to Venice without the Volcano interrupting anything and and with some rule changes to how airspace will be closed I don't think we'll be stranded here.  So here are some pictures.

We arrived just in time last night to catch one of the last vaporetta's, or water buses, from the airport to the main island.  Here's a picture.

The Bus was slower than one of the water taxis but at only 26 euro for the three of us it beats the 100 euro a water taxi would have charged.  Very few automobiles are allowed on the islands that make up Venice so the main way to get from the airport to the islands are by water.

The almost an hour on the water bus allowed us to relax and take in the sights of the islands slowly and get a good picture of Shantel and Macen as well as a picture of the sun setting behind the Appennies Mountains on the mainland from across the Venetian Lagoon.

Macen let us sleep in a little bit this morning, until 7am and then it was out and about to Doge's Palace for some sightseeing.  We wandered through the Palace and tried to take some pictures but there were some areas where you were not allowed to take photos.  We didn't always see the signs but there were watchers stationed in the rooms to "politely" remind you not to take any pictures.  One thing in particular that we wanted to take a picture of were two huge globes one depicting the heavens and the other the map of the world as it was known in the 15th century.  Very interesting pieces of art.

The front of the palace many of the columns (called capitals) have been replaced with replicas and the originals stored and displayed inside.

A clock tower and some close ups of sculptures on it in the palace courtyard.

The Staircase of the Giants was where the Doge was crowned after being elected.

The Golden Staircase and some of the artwork on the ceiling.  This staircase led to the Doge's private apartments.

The Dungeons below and behind the Palace.

This lady is standing on the famous Bridge of Sighs.  Prisoners would walk over this bridge look out the window and sigh at their last sight of the water before entering the dungeons.

Everywhere you look in Venice you see the windged lion of St. Mark.  Read the legend about St Mark and why he is the patron saint of Venice here.

This where my camera died, I forgot to charge it.  We'll do a Day 1 continued post later this evening with pictures from our gondola ride, and the Hard Rock Cafe.