Venice

Earlier this week we decided to head to Vencie for the weekend.

This morning we woke up, packed a few extra clothes in a backpack and headed east to Venice, about a 3 hour drive.

We arrived in Mestre, the mainland train station, around 11:30. There is a convenient parking lot across the street from the station. For 1 euro a piece, you can catch the train across the causeway into Venice.

Ah, Venice. Entering Venice reminds me a little of Disneyland. At Disneyland you enter Main Street by walking under Main Stree Station. Suddenly, you are transported into a different world.

In Venice, you walk through the train station and down the steps into the old world of Venice and the Grand Canal, also transported into a different world.

It was lunch time and we were pretty hungry. Brandon suggested we have lunch at our favorite Cinese restaurant, so we headed that way.


Cinese, one of our favorite foods in Italy

After lunch we headed into the heart of Venice. We promised Brandon that this would be the Venice trip that would include a gondola ride. He begged the first two times. This time we relented. We wanted to ride a gondola through the small canals, so we had to head farther away from the Grand Canal.


Which way do we go to find a gondola!

On the way we crossed the Rialto Bridge. The Rialto is a grand bridge, but is very crowded and I don't find it very enjoyable.



The Grand Canal


Our our way to find a gondola, we stopped on the Rialto Bridge for pictures.


Our first gondola ride in Venice






Photos taken by Brandon


Brandon explains something about water levels


Heavy traffic


We had a nice cruise through the small canals then popped out into the Grand Canal for a short distance


The Rialto Bridge in the distance


Under the Rialto


Me, Katrina and our gondolier - photo by Brandon

We had an enjoyable time on the gondola ride. Many of our Italian friends told us to skip it because it's expensive and is 'touristy'. It is both of those things, but I think it is definitely an experience.

The sun was out after a partly cloudy morning. Katrina has never been able to take 'sunny' pictures of colorful Burano. We decided to head that way.


Hot dog break


Vaporetto ride to Burano


Burano



I love the colorful homes


Katrina says this house was a different color last time we visited Burano


The bell tower leans quite a bit



The sun was going down. It was time to head back to Venice. We wanted to have dinner at a restaurant we ate at when we took Carolyn, Heather and Laurie to Venice.


UPS, they deliver in Venice

We found the restaurant had had dinner. Unfortunately it was not as good as the last time we ate there.

Katrina bought a ticket to see a concert this evening featuring music by Vivaldi. I volunteered to take Brandon back to the room. After dinner Brandon and I decided to walk Katrina to Chiesa di San Vidal where the concert was to be held. We stopped along the way to enjoy some gelato and to take pictures.




Evening in Venice

We had a great day in Venice. Brandon and I wathed some TV, then he went to bed. I stayed up until Katrina was home, then fell asleep.

Tomorrow we visit the island of Murano and explore Venice a little bit before heading home.