Beautiful Venice

VENICE   A rapid train ride from the Rome train station through the Italian country side brought us to the station in Venice.  We were happy to find conveniently located at the train station --a place for gelato! *

Much to our pleasure we exited the train terminal to find us on the Grand Canal of Venice. What a breathtaking site.  It was everything we had imagined from the movies and photos and more. Gondolas, water taxis and the public ferries were the only means of transportation.  Venezia is a magical place.

 Certainly, Venice is focused on tourism.  However, the active life of the many local residents comes through as you venture off the main drag and walk through the narrow alleys and streets.  A common gathering spot for locals and tourists alike is Piazza San Marcos seen here from the mouth of the Grand Canal.  We have a number of great photos of the churches and buildings in the center.  We just can't put them all on the blog.      

Venice is very photo friendly.  We have some wonderful pictures and they almost don't need commentary.  We had a wonderful time in Venice eating pizza or spaghetti, getting lost in the maze of buildings where we found oodles of glass, linen and other other shops to ooh and aah over.   The waterway to the left was taken from a little bridge just near our Bed and Breakfast.  

On our first evening we found ourselves at an old church (S. Salvatore) where we listened to a string orchestra concert.  Le Quattro Stagioni Di Vivaldi (Vivaldi's Four Seasons)  It was excellent.  Lisa has started playing her violin again since we moved to Poland and they were at least as good as she is. 

We did not limit our Venice area activities just to the canals and walkways of Venice.  Our second day in Venice found us on the move.  We took a ferry to some outer islands within the Laguna Veneta.  We first stopped on Murano Island which is mostly dedicated to glass manufacturing.  We watched master craftsmen blow glass.  The colorful display of their crafts was amazing and expensive.  We window shopped.  A very artsy community! 

From Murano we traveled further up the Laguna to the island of Burano (our favorite).  It was so picturesque with all the multi-colored homes and boats as seen on the photo above and the next few. We saw a few young artists and were reminded of our Lindsay and how she would love to have a sketch pad and a free afternoon here in Burano.  This is truly an artist's haven.  So much to see and appreciate with the colors, the culture and the architecture.  

Burano Port View.

Tom and Pam in one of Burano's sidewalk cafes. This is where they ditched us and we were left to our own devises.

This is a typical Venice Side street with the normal means of transportation. Foot traffic ofcourse gets you most anywhere you want to go. There are bridges like the one in the photo and the one from where the picture is taken. The only problem is that without a map you can get easily lost. (Voice of experience)

Colorful apartments on the Grand Canal.  


No image of Venezia is complete without the view of the famous Gondola.  Gondoliers in their stripped shirts and straw hats are present everywhere and just about anytime.


* Gelato really is fabulous, but maybe that's because it was Vacation Ice Cream! We found out that V.I.C. doesn't increase weight.  Coming back to Poland we had to do a taste comparison yesterday.  We tried two (ok, just Lisa, but they serve very small scoops in Poland:) places and it looks like Italy's gelato wins! This morning I'm sure the bathroom scale lied or After Vacation Ice Cream is more fattening!