Venezia

Where else but Venice would you see Venetian Glass in the outdoor light fittings?  We noticed them everywhere but I cannot add them all to the Blog as the page would end up too long.

Another lovely day in Venice where we went around Venice via the Grand Canal.   Here are a few scenes from our Grand Canal journey this morning.

We disembarked at Lido for a stroll around the area.  Lido is obviously a rich area with many old mansions some now apartments or hotels.  We walked the boulevard from one end to the other and then stopped for lunch before returning to the San Marco area.  We enjoyed the best vegetable soup at lunch in Lido, it was delicious and was followed by roasted chicken and baked potato and, as always, we washed it down with good Italian wine.

We returned to our hotel before heading out again as it had cooled down and I needed a jacket and Andrée wanted her fleece.  We walked to the Rialto Bridge from our hotel looking in the shops as we went.  There are some good shops and then there are the regular ugly tourist shops.

From Rialto we went on our Gondola ride and is was a great thing to do.  It is so calm on the gondola and the gondoliers are so skilled. Apparently gondolas are made with a curve in them so they don't go round and round in circles.

We went past where Marco Polo's house was and many older buildings, some of which people can no longer live on the first floor due to the houses sinking.  However, Andrée pointed out that some of the buildings look like the first floor has never been lived in.

The light was superb for photographing and we were both so happy that we took a ride on a Gondola in Venice, as opposed to Las Vegas (joking).  We had dinner in the Rialto area (at the restaurant above) before heading back to the hotel.

Tomorrow we move on to Genova.  It is a five hour fast-train journey with a switch of trains in Milano Centrale (Milano C.Le).  The high speed trains are comfortable but do take First Class, I would always suggest it to anybody who asks.