In Venezia!

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Geo: 45.4345, 12.3384

Hello again! we had an uneventful, for the most part, train trip yesterday, we were pretty tired when we got here, I think the constant being on the go is getting to us ;-) We had made the bus ride from our Rome neighborhood to the main train terminal twice before but when we were on the bus with our luggage and a couple of bags (so glad we only have the carry on stuff!, it was crowded enough) we met a friendly older man that informed us that this bus did not go to the Termini, we did not want to contradict him and thought we may have made a mistake... so got off the bus when he told us to (we had passed this very spot the other times...) and he pointed the way up the hill to the Termini (main terminal for trains) and we got to walk our last Roman mile uphill with luggage!! fun! we would have missed the cobblestones...

So found our train track and waited for the train to come and then to leave, got to watch the many different nationalities and the Italian teens on the train. Had to wait in a couple of wrong lines for my pre purchased Vaporetto tickets (water bus in Venice) and finally found the right spot to pick them up, was not impressed with the "help" there but they are no doubt not impressed with the "visitors"... found our hotel, not far from the Rialto bridge, followed the directions from the website for the hotel, good thing too, there would be no way to find it without them! we had a very enjoyable evening just wandering the labyrinthine alleyways between the Rialto and San Marcos Piazza, the hotel is everything the website advertised, very nice staff and it is very clean.
This morning had the breakfast provided by the hotel, wonderful salami!! rolls, croissants, fresh fruit, hard boiled eggs, cereal, tea, coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice! and more, yummy... of course I did not eat all of it but gave it a good try.
We then went on to the Doges Palace for the Secret Itineraries Tour, great behind the scenes tour and then wandered the Palace, back to the hotel after about 4 hours at the Doges, then out to San Marcos Basilica, beautiful gold mosaics cover the entire ceiling!

We have just been having fun wandering around, getting lost and finding places I was with my parents, found the spot where we had a great dinner last time with homemade pasta in a little garden but it is gone! bummer... we had homemade pasta in Rome and there is no comparison....
Glad to hear the History class is going well, thanks Joseph for writing! note to my class, look up info on the Doges of Venice and the Battle of Lepanto (spelling?) also their involvement in the 4th crusade, interesting stuff!
Barb, the weather in Rome was great! a little chilly towards our last day and here in Venice it is very chilly, we are pretty bundled up right now. It is sunny though and we have not really had any rain, it has been nice as long as you have enough warm clothes here.
We are now going to find a place to eat, get lost and wander. This place really gives meaning to the term labyrinth!

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