Venice

We woke up on the morning of Day 5, had our wonderful Tuscan breakfast (the apricot crescent rolls were everyone's favoite) then boarded the bus for our drive to Venice. It was a long drive, but riding a bus on a tour in Europe is actually not a bad experience. The bus drivers are required by EU law to stop every 2 hours for a 20 minute break. Our driver, Jean, was amazing and always tried to stop at picturesque places when possible. Because we were still on the road during lunch time we stopped at a roadside cafeteria, where the food was not only prepared right there in front of you, but was fresh and delicious. I had shrimp and zuccini pasta and a salad.

We arrived in Venice around 2:00 and got in line for the ferry to our island. The main island is Venice and that's where the Grand Canal and all the major sights are, but Venice is made up of several smaller islands as well. Murano is known for glass making, Burano is known for lace-making. We stayed on the Lido which is a beach resort town...very cute and quaint with lots of neat little stores and restaurants and a decent beach. Locals live there, so there is also a thriving modernerity to it that's absent in the heart of Venice.

After the ferry ride and being dropped off right at our hotel, we put our stuff away and then went into the city for some sight seeing and dinner. We rode a vaparetto (which is the equivalent of a city bus on a boat) during "rush hour" and ended up being so packed in that I thought I would have a panic attack. David and I were squished into a corner and there was a man holding onto the hand holds above me with his elbow in my eye. I was surprised I ended up without a black eye. Oh, and it was raining, so not only were we packed in, we were wet... We were supposed to ride the gondola that night, but I'll explain later what happened.

One thing our guides kept insisting about Venice is that you can't get lost. The alleyways may be confusing, but you're on an island and can't get off unless you're on a boat. So, the brattiest member of our tour group became our guide and followed the signs and walked us to St. Mark's Square. This is the square of pigeon fame. There are thousands of them everywhere and they pester the tourists who feed them and take pictures of themselves being attacked by pigeons. I think it's supposed to be quaint, but I wasn't happy.

As we were grouping up to get our directions for the walk to the gondola, this happened, so our tour guide cancelle our gondola ride that night. We walked around looking for a place to eat, but most of them were packed, except for one which was getting rained on INSIDE.

After dinner, we walked around the square a bit, then met up with our group and went back to our hotel on a much less crowded vaparetto this time.

The next morning we woke up, went into the city with our group and toured the St. Mark's Cathedral. I wish I could have taken pictures of this place because it was truly amazing. There are mosaics everywhere. Every single square inch of floor, ceiling and walls are covered in tiny glass pieces arranged to tell a story. Sparkly, pretty and wonderfully overwhelming. There was a choir in there that day and the music gave me chills. We also saw the golden altar which was quite golden and shiny. Definitely worth the Euro.fifty we spent to see it. Then we walked up the steps to see the bronze horses (which were also pretty cool) and ended up watching a military review in the square from the balcony. That was cool. Some of the frescoes were also on the outside. A picture of one.

After St. Mark's we went to the Doge's Palace. The Doge's Palace was where the doge, the equivalent of an elected king, lived and conducted politics. It's huge. The rooms are huge, the tapestries and paintings are huge. Everything is huge. The stairway below is the one that petitioners would use to enter the doge's chambers. When you enter the courtyard, this is the view you have of the staircase. Rather daunting isn't it?

The Doge's Palace was connected to the prison by the Bridge of Sighs. This picture, of course, was taken from outside, but we did walk through the bridge and back again.

After a quickly eaten lunch in the rain at a pizza bar (remember these are the stand up/take away restaurants in Italy, not alcoholic institutions) we rode the vaparetto to Murano. We had to pause for dessert becuase we were all so tired. Hot chocolate and some yummy sweets later, we walked to several showcases and admired and purchased a few pieces of Murano glassware. We also saw a demonstration of a vase being made.

Our family went back to the hotel at this point, apparently on the slow boat. We had dinner, then went back into Venice for our group's gondola ride. We had a singer and musicians, and it was quite fun overall.

That was Venice. We did a lot in a day and a half and I wished I'd had another 2 or 3 days to get "lost" on the main island. The weather was so bad while we were there that walking around and strolling weren't very much fun. I have to say that Venice is the only place in Italy where the food wasn't all that good. Our hotel, while modern and really nice, put David and me in a crummy room with no air conditioning and a flock of mosquitos. I was dive-bombed all night long. Didn't sleep well as a result. I would also have liked to have stayed on the main island. We spent a lot of time commuting and no time enjoying the beach. Finally, this was the place, where I lost it due to travel weariness. David and I got on the wrong bus on the Lido trying to get back to our hotel, and when we asked the bus driver which stop we got off of to get to our hotel, he told us we were on the wrong bus, stopped in the middle of the road, and told us to get on the bus stop across the street (which was also a 1/4 mile down the road). I cried because I was so frustrated and tired and hot and ironically wet and knew I would have to sleep in a room with mosquitos and no AC.

All that bad-luck aside, I loved Venice. It charmed me like I hoped it would. It was one of the places that I couldn't wait to go see and was so excited that it was on our tour because who can imagine what a city built in the water looks like? It reminded me a bit of New Orleans--decadent, expensive, hustlers everywhere--but like New Orleans it captivated me and made me not care that I'd just spent too much money on a crappy piece of pizza. It's fun and has a great history. It is definitely one of those places where I'd like to sit and stay awhile.