Is this heaven?

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. . . No, it's Venice.

Ok, so you know that the true answer to that question is "Iowa". The fact that I modified the answer goes to show how much I loved Venezia (aka: Venice). The city is truly magical. I say this without having ridden a gondola. The price was just a little too steep. I will save that for my honeymoon. Yes, that's right, I've decided that Venice will be my honeymoon destination. Mark my words. Now I just need to find the guy and I'm set. 😊

I did take a river boat ride along the Grand Canal and used the "water buses" (vaparetto) a little. I saw St. Mark's Basillica (went to mass there), the Doge's Palace, and countless other beautiful churches. My favorite part was just wandering the city though. There are no cars in Venice so you walk and walk and walk. It's beautiful. I sat on the stairs lining St. Mark's piazza all three nights. The piazza was lit and the orchestras were playing. It was so wonderful to hear how universal music is -- I recognized almost every song. I went to sleep at night with my windows open. I could hear singing voices from restaurants lining the streets. Last night I feel asleep to "What a Wonderful World" and it's been in my head since.

On Saturday night I joined up with three other students and we spluged! We paid to sit on the terrace of Cafe Florian. This is the most famous cafe along the piazza (Hemingway once sat there) and it's orchestra is the most well-known. I had a rosellini (sp?) -- a combination of Prosecco (remember, the wine that the Veneto is known for) and strawberry juice. The entire experience was a memory.

Now I'm back in Asolo. I hope to check out this, my hometown, a little today and get a jump start on the week. I'm already suffering from a little Venezian withdrawal though. Venice now tops my list of European destinations. Amazing. Truly amazing.

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Photos

On a bridge near my hotel
This is just one of the hundreds (maybe even thousands?!) of little bridges that connect the islands of Venice.

View from my room
My hotel was right between St. Mark's and the Rialto bridge. Amazing location!

St. Mark's Basillica
I went to mass at St. Mark's on Sunday morn. It was in Italian - thank goodness for "amen" and "allelulia"!

Cafe Florian
Eva, Kate, Joel (from Univ. of Oklahoma) and me "splurging" at the Cafe Florian on St. Mark's piazza.