DAYS 8 & VENICE


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April 21st 2012
Published: April 21st 2012
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I will update on Friday and Saturday together. Friday morning, we decided we would spend our last hours in Florence climbing the dome of the Cathedral. I don't know how many steps, but it was quite a lot. However, the sky was clear enough for us to have great views from the top.

Friday afternoon we boarded the train in Florence and traveled a little over 2 hours to Venice.(Venezia). When we got off the train we pulled our luggage across the Scalzi bridge, crossing the Grand Canal. Our hotel was just across the canal.

After checking in and dropping off our luggage, we met the other couple, Glenn and Michele, in the lobby. Since we had a tour the next morning that began at the gates to the Royal Gardens on St Mark's Square, we decided we would make the walk and check it out.

The walk took at least 45 minutes, and we have to consider that we followed a cute Italian student most of the way. Annatella is 19 and studying Chinese. Next year she will study Japanese. She said she didn't want a boyfriend now because it is very hard at the university. She plans to work as an interpreter for an import/export business. We were impressed by how focused she was on her goals and how committed she is to reaching those goals.

After finding San Marco Square, we had a little gelato and a little vino as we tried to make our way back. We stopped to eat at an outdoor cafe and our waiter, Eugene was quite a character.

Bobby said we were on a little island and we could not get lost. Before long, he was using his phone app to get us back to the hotel. After all the climbing and walking, I was so tired I did not even consider writing.

This morning we had sunny mild weather all day. We made our way to the square and met the tour. The square was really packed with people. This is really the first time we have seen really crowded areas. The guide managed to get us into the bascillica before high tide would have prevented us from going in. (It is worth paying for a tour just to skip the long lines.) After the bascillica, we continued for a little more Venetian history.

After the tour we walked around a bit, and strolled down some different streets without a clue as to where we were. We stopped to eat a little pizza at a table outside. Finally we decided to take our gondola ride. We passed on the first gondolier we talk to, but we liked the next one. We even persuaded him to sing to us even though he told us it was against union rules. (Really!) He even let us bring a bottle of wine and glasses with us. We were quite a hit on the canals.

Bobby and I then walked around for a while and stopped to eat outside near the hotel. There is a lot of sitting outside and watching the people and boats go by. After calling our kids and parents, I decided to bring the laptop down to the lobby so I could use the wireless connection. Bobby went to the bar to get us Coke Lights. Of course, Bobby was gone about 15 minutes because he met a couple from Georgia who are retired educators. They just walked by and we exchanged southern versions of Italian greetings. "Ciao y'all"


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