Venice, Italy
May 3 - May 6, 2011.....

5/3

 
Train ride from Austria to Italy 

Well, as I said earlier, we are now surrounded by water.

We arrived at our hotel - Al Ponte deiSospiri - Tom standing on a bridge at the front door of our hotel on one of the canals.  The hotel is one block off of Piazza San Marco, the huge "living room" of Venice - which is nearly two football fields long.  .
Basilica San Marco (St. Mark's Basilica), Campanile Di San Marco (Saint Mark's Bell Tower), Palazzo Ducale (Doge's Palace) surround this square along with many restaurants cafes, and shops....and is filled with music, lovers, pigeons, and tourists.
As one strolls through the square, one can enjoy "dualing orchestras" provided by many of the elegant cafes.

We will explore Venice in more detail tomorrow, but here are some of our glorious first impressions of Venice.....magnifico!
Buona notte,


 



5/4
Buon giorno.
We began our day on Murano Island - "A Glassmaker's Paradise Since 1291, this tiny Venetian island has been the home of Venice's glassmaking industry since 1921."
Murano is a quiet island, with fascinating shops and sidewalk cafes. Murano also has a marvelous glass museum and several glass factories where you can watch these artists work in their own environment. It only takes about ten or fifteen minutes to get to Murano from St. Mark's Church, by water taxi or water bus.

In the afternoon we took a tour on Venice's Grand Canal - with its many historic buildings, palaces, churches, bridges, along with other boats & gondolas sharing the waterways.  (some up-close photos of the gondolas to show how unique each one is) You will also see some brightly colored "barber poles"...we especially liked the orange & blue ones!!!!

Dinner was relaxing on a canal with great food & great views of the passing gondolas & its passengers.
Tom said I should have continued with my accordian lessons, so we could have traveled with me playing to cover our traveling expenses!!  NOT!!!!

Another stroll through Piazza San Marco with the dualing orchestras & the "special" color lights  & lamp posts on the magnificent buildings in the square ended another glorious day in Venice,


















5/5
Ciao,
On this our final day in Venice, we took a water bus to Burano.
"This is the most picturesque of the lagoon islands due to the extraordinary colors of its low houses, doors and windows, which look like the work of naive painters.

The island can be reached in approximately one hour from St. Mark's Square.

Laces and fishery are the island's main resources. The embroideries unite fantasy and delicacy; the most difficult and well-known stitch is the so-called "air-stitch', which is a real miracle of Burano's lace-makers.

The island has a high density of population and on its old narrow streets and coasts there are hundreds of stalls and shops."
However, this charming island felt much more relaxed and less crowded as compared to Venice.

When we returned to Venice we strolled around the area near the Rialto Bridge.  The Rialto Bridge (Italian: Ponte di Rialto) is one of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. It is the oldest bridge across the canal

We ended with another wonderful dinner at a lovely restaurant just off the square, and near our hotel.

Tomorrow morning we pick up a rental car....I wonder if Tom will remember how to drive after 3 weeks of using other forms of transportation other than personally driving a car.  Fortunately he will be driving on the right side of the road as we continue our travels (not the left side of the road as in the UK).  And, the rental car will have GPS, so I am hopeful we will reach our next destinations of Lake Como, Monte Carlo, and Milan!!


Burano





PS.  I forgot to mention, Venice is preparing for a visit from the Pope on Saturday and Sunday.  They will be closing St. Mark's Square, and the shops and restaurants will be closed during much of his visit.  And, most of the gondolas will be moved away from the square during his visit. 
So, once again we are quite pleased that we will be leaving before this event, just as we left before the Royal Wedding in London.  We are happy not to be part of the large crowds and chaos during these events.
Who knows, perhaps George Clooney will be visiting Lake Como after we depart there for Monaco.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
Lake Como, Italy May 6 - May 9, 2011 ..... 5/6 We are now "back on land" - (if you have forgotten, Venice lies on a group of marshy islands in the Adriatic Sea, about four miles from the mainland of Italy) - having left Venice BY CAR!!! We picked up our rental car & drove from Venice to Lake Como….about 190 miles in about 3 hours.   The scenery included some wine country. We had a GPS system that was very good, with a navigator that gave precise directions with an English accent.   Tom actually did a fine job….so we should enjoy having wheels once again. We are staying in a lovely villa turned hotel – the Grand Hotel Imperiale – located at the southern end of the Lake Como and 7 miles from the town of Como. The hotel is on Lake Como.     The view from our hotel room is absolutely gorgeous….as is the view from the hotel’s restaurant, plus the food was delicious, too.     5/7/2011 Well, we are back on wate...
Read more
Image
Paris, France April 21 - April 26, 2011..... 4/21 Bon jour from Paris. OK - that's about all the French I know. We had a terrific train ride from London to Paris on the "Chunnel"....the total time was 2.5 hours - with only a very short time in tunnels (under the Channel).   The transportation system in London is really marvelous....clean, efficient, and always on time. Now we will see how it is in Paris!! We checked in to the Hotel Relais Bosquet at 19, Rue du Champ de Mars...only about a 10 minute walk to the Eiffel Tower.   It is located on a side street with many quaint cafes, patisseries, cheese and wine shops, open-air market with lots of fresh fruits & vegetables, flower shops, gift shops, etc.   We had a nice leisurely dinner at a cafe, eating outside, since it is ANOTHER gorgeous day...temps in the 70's with lots of sun!!   Then we stopped at a "Chocolat Boutique" and picked up an assortment of macaroons (pistacchio, chocolate-...
Read more