Jul 20, 2012 - Venice

VENICE: We stayed in Treviso, a small town about 30 min. from Venice. The tourist office suggested a budget hotel. It was just after 12:00 noon and the reception is closed from 12:00-3:00pm! After looking at a few other places, we did decide to stay here as it was clean, inexpensive, provided breakfast and WIFI in the common room and was close proximity to the train, and town center. We wake to this strange sound….what can this be……heavy rainfall! This is the first rain since May 15 when we were in Turkey. Lucky for us, the rain stopped...

Jul 7, 2012 - Venezia!!! (venice)

Right off the bat... Id like to say that Italy is one of the coolest country's I've been thus far. There is so much culture and flair! On the second day in Rome, mat and I took a train to the coast to check out the Italian beach. To my surprise, it wasnt a sandy nudest beach I have always thought Italy had. It was a calm rocky beach. Im sure they have really nice sandy beaches somewhere, but what we had was good enough for us. The water was incredibly warm! And the whether was hot as hell!! Since the time ive been in Italy, the heather...

Jul 5, 2012 - July 4th in Venice

Met up with the last member of our trip at Charles de Gaulle. We all arrived safely in Venice....unfortunately Joey's luggage didn't make it with us. Very hot and sunny, but an absolutely stunning location. We spent the day wandering (and getting lost in) the streets of Venice. I can't tell you where we went as Tim would not hand over the map! Many lovely buildings and churches. Lots of window shopping, and only a minor dent on the credit card. Pics will come....just a little difficulty negotiating the apple app. Off to the cruise ship...

Jul 3, 2012 - Venice- Day 2

Ciao once again from Venice! Today was our last day in Venice, so we made the most of it! We started the day off by riding a vaporetto (water bus) to the Rialto Bridge, one of the most famous bridges in Venice. We did a lot of shopping around the bridge, looking at the blown melano glass and carnaval masks which the Venice area is also famous for. Then we headed off to look at the many churches. The first church we visited was called Santa Maria Gloriosa Dei Frari. This very beautiful church was built in the mid-1400's and extremely famous...

Jul 2, 2012 - Venice 2 - Where Am I?

It was now really time to see Venice. I spent most of yesterday sick so I headed out early and caught a water taxi down the grand canal. Seeing the city that way it was almost magical; people always say 'oh this city is like venice'...I now know there is nothing in the world like Venice: the colorful buildings, hundreds of boats, smell of seawater..it was wild. I got off at St marks square which was very impressive, except most places had huge lines. I asked one guy how long it was for the basilica..he said 90 mins. I was having none of it,...

Jul 1, 2012 - Rome 6 / Venice 1 - Epic Canada Day

Not much happening today but what did was pretty unreal. Just before my train out of Rome, myself and a couple of americans headed over to the Vatican for the popes Sunday mass. Even though I'm not catholic it gave me goosebumps seeing Pope Benedict show up at the window in front of thousands of onlookers. He wasn't close, but he was close enough to tell he wasn't an imposter! Caught my first train to Venice right after, stepping off it was like entering some merchant world. The station was pretty gritty and the crowds were more...

Jun 28, 2012 - La Dolce Vita à Venise

Buon giorno, Nous avons jeté l'ancre à Venise dimanche le 24 juin pour notre fête de la Saint-Jean. Une température chaude et humide nous attendaient. Nous avons pris le Vaporetto (bateau bus) en direction de notre hôtel Sant'Elena dans le quartier Castello situé à l'extrémité Sud Est de Venise. Un quartier résidentiel très tranquille, près d'un parc fréquenté par les vénitiens Il est toujours étonnant de voir les gens déambuler lentement dans les ruelles avec leur carrosse d'épicerie et prendre le temps de piquer une jasette aux gens...

Jun 24, 2012 - Venice, Italy

After a somewhat sleepless night on the train, we woke up in Italy! We schlepped our luggage to the Vaporetto (public water bus) and then onto the Rialto Bridge pier, where we walked a few blocks to our hotel - the Hotel Locando al Gambero, about halfway between the Rialto Bridge and the Piazza San Marco. The hotel was LOVELY, and although we had to haul the luggage to the 3rd floor without an elevator, the room was terrific and VERY AIR CONIDITIONED! They thankfully let us check in before 10am. My initial plan to pack incredibly light was...

Jun 22, 2012 - A visit to Murano

We set off this morning to find there is a 24hour general strike – only essential services operating. We start at the railway station to book our trip from Venice to Tirano for the next day. Unfortunately the self service machines are not cooperating again and the queue is huge so we leave and find ourselves a café with free wifi. The web page also doesn’t work so we head back to the station to join the queue. We are pleasantly surprised to find that the automatic machines are finally working and we get our tickets immediately. Now to the...

Jun 21, 2012 - and on to Venice

We walk to the station and catch a ride to Venice. On arrival we walk to our new home – across the grand canal and over two minor ones – again a pleasant surprise, our triple room has morphed into a two bedroom apartment – just love having all this space. We spend the rest of the afternoon and early evening getting lost in Venice. Down small alleyways, over numerous bridges, totally ignoring the map until it is time to return home. Mind you, following the maps is a challenge in itself – many ‘streets’ do not have names and quite often names...

Jun 21, 2012 - Venice, Italy

Venice was as beautiful and as exotic as I had imagined. Again, the crowds were disconcerting to me. I miss the quiet beaches in St. Croix. The best thing was the gondola ride and seeing the very old buildings at the water's edge. I had heard about Murano glass, so was interesting to see the factory and, of course, to shop in their store. But the demonstration was just like the glass blowers at Silver Dollar City. I didn't pay the extra to stay on Venice Island like some in the tour group did. Didn't quite understand that Venice was on an...

Jun 20, 2012 - Floating around Venice

Venice is a beautiful city and I could spend a lot of time (and money) here. That is assuming that I don't need a wheelchair or anything on wheels because as you can imagine, there are bridges and steps everywhere. Once again I hit the art galleries, or should I say gallery - Gallerie dell'Accademia - looking for da Vinci's Vitruvian Man. Unfortunately it is currently being restored and not available for viewing. Not having any luck on the art scene anymore. So instead I bought travelcard and spent the next two days travelling on Venice's...