Venice: a feast for our sleep-deprived senses. Pigeons, gulls, the clickity-clack of suitcase wheels on cobblestone. Brightly painted gondola poles. Salt air. Church bells ringing. Stepping out of the train station we felt, for the first time since leaving home, that we’d entered another time and place. Sunset cast a beautiful glow over the well-worn, but still elegant buildings along the Grand Canal. Even the air we breathed reeked of history. Dragging our suitcases behind us, we made our way across the Scalzi Bridge to our nearby hotel, Hotel Carlton, checked in and learned that Pope John Paul II was near death. We planned to be in Rome on the 6th and 7th so we were quite curious. After watching the news for a bit we set off to explore the quiet streets around our hotel
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