Venice

We did not do much on our first day in Venice. We arrived around 1pm, then had to wait in a line to buy boat tickets, then took the boat a few stops, then found our hotel and checked in, then ate lunch, and by then it was already 3pm. So we decided to simply let ourselves get lost on the streets of Venice and spend the rest of the day wandering around and shopping. And there is a lot of shopping to do in Venice! Around every corner there is a shop selling glasswares or masks. Glass is handblown on an island near Venice so it's sold everywhere.

Venice is definitely different from anyplace I've ever been. Having canals instead of streets was interesting, and with all the old colorful buildings everywhere it was just nice to walk around and take it all in. And Venice was so clean and the water did not smell at all, as I had expected it to. It was clean to Switzerland standards, which was probably why I liked it so much.





That evening in the square near our hotel there was a high school band and chorus playing. They were pretty good. It's nice to be able to go to your child's concert and sit and eat dinner and have a glass of wine! In my high school we just had concerts in our auditorium and the parents got to sit in uncomfortable metal chairs with no refreshments.



Our second day in Venice we went to the church in Campo San Marco (Saint Mark's Square). Pictures were not allowed in the church but its interior was gorgeous. It was all mosaics and mostly of gold. Mosaics covered the entire ceiling of the church. Here's an example of the mosaics that were on the exterior of the church:





After the church we toured the Duke's Palace which was kind of like Versailles but scaled down a lot. Again, pictures were not allowed so you will all have to go see it for yourselves. The Duke's Palace is attached to the prison via the famous Bridge of Sighs, which prisoners would walk over on their way to the prison, look out the (tiny) window at Venice for the last time, and sigh. Here's the tiny window, complete with lots of scaffolding and construction outside of it, and the view out that window beyond the construction:





After the tour of the Duke's Palace we had ourselves a little snack:



and then we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around and shopping some more. Tons and tons of shopping in Venice ... it's overwhelming.

That afternoon we ran into Martin Ryback, our old neighbor from senior year at BC. He was on his honeymoon. Small world. If you saw a street map of Venice you'd realize how difficult it would be to fine *anybody* in Venice, even if you were looking for each other and had an agreed-upon meeting place.

Italy was definitely the perfect place for a honeymoon though! Florence and Venice were very romantic. In my opinion (and Es'). And judging by the number of weddings we saw in Florence, a lot of other people agreed with us.



The Rialto bridge at sunset:



That evening we sat at a cafe in Campo San Marco and had some drinks while we listened to live music. People were dancing to the music as well and they were really good. It made Es and I wish that we could dance properly to classical music.



We got to look upon the church and all of the old buildings that evening, lit up with candle-like lights. Very nice.