Venice with snow!

---

Wow Venice in the snow!........

Venice at the best of times is beautiful..... but to see it with snow and also some flooding was extraordinarily beautiful!
For this treat, we had to endure some freezing weather...but after living in the desert, that only made it more exciting and adventurous. We enjoyed the novelty of rugging up. Myself...I wore three thermal tops, thermal leggings, two pairs of gloves, two pairs of socks, thermal beanie, jacket and coat!! We were happy to retreat back to our hotel for a hot spa bath at the end of each day!

Wandering the narrow back streets, every view was a postcard or photo opportunity......bare with me for all the photos I have put on this blog, but for those who know me....you can be assured there are a lot more photos!

We woke up after our first night to find thick 14cm of snow everwhere! It was still snowing heavily in the morning, so with delight we raced out with our cameras..... absolutely beautiful, soft and powdery to walk through. With the snow came flooding through the narrow streets...at times up into the shops and above the canals into the streets. Making our way through the back streets was dictated by where we could get through. Many people were organised with their long rubber boots, and in the most popular places, there were long wooden planks provided as walkways about 50cm off the ground over the water.

The Accademia Gallery was a highlight, with all their Renaissance paintings, also the Doges Palace, a bit grim walking through the prison cells, but historically very interesting. San Marco was partly closed but we did get to see the original 4 Bronze horses from Constantinople (with recent carbon dating at 2nd century BC), majestically beautiful..... in the high transept. From here we had views over the basilica interior and to the stunning Byzantine mosaic domes! Of course every building, window, wooden shutter, balcony, corner, little street, water wells, bridges, canals, gondolas......all beautiful! We also ate very well in gorgeous authentic and contemporary Italaian restaurants..lots of pasta & pizza and great coffee!

We have aslo been to Florence and Rome.... I will put up more photos and blogs soon! Enjoy all the photos!
Tommorow we are off to the UK.......

---