Venice

Venice is a city unlike any other.  The train dropped us off in front of the Grand Canal, giving us a beautiful welcome to the city.  The sun was shining. Although Paige had been reluctant to keep traveling after Lucca, she said, "this is awesome!".  Clay agreed but said it was, "a bit too lakey".  Venice would make a good Richard Scarry book.  There is a boat for everything--police, ambulance transport, transporting goods, mail delivery, garbage collection, cement delivery, crane and bulldozer work, and taxi's all have a boat.  We were even ferried ninety minutes to the airport by boat. 

Venice is not for the weak as there are 400 bridges in this romantic city.  One time we counted 9 small bridges that we had to ascend and descend to walk a short distance. All the narrow canals and bridges give the city a picturesque feeling.  Normally you may see one main canal in a town but here it was amazing to see tons and tons of lovely narrow canals providing many photographic opportunities.  My brother Clark would have gone crazy taking pictures. 

In Venice we enjoyed learning about the Italian renaissance painters (even Paige took some notes), seeing St. Mark's byzantine basilica with its ceiling made of tiny squares of mosaic tiles, and enjoying the local fish and pasta dishes (we were a bit too leary to try the black squid though).  We were thrilled to see our favorite ice cream place -- Venchi.  We also tried Venice's signature drink, the Bellini made of peach juice and champagne.

Paige wanted to make sure we told about our pigeon called "Pidgey".  Duane saw a gull harassing a pigeon and a little later noticed a pigeon sitting right under him (between his feet) as we stood in the middle of St. Mark's Square watching people. The pigeon hung out there for a while so we figured there was something wrong with it. It looked like it had an injured or broken leg. Not wanting to just leave it there, Duane picked it up, placed it in a bag we had (without any objection from the pigeon), and walked 10 minutes to a quieter square. We dropped it off there with some other pigeons. We hope he made it.

You can envision how this city was bustling with boat traffic and trade in years past and what a grand city it must have been.  Now much of it needs a fresh coat of paint and repair.  Let's hope they can figure out a way to keep it from water destruction.  Couldn't believe that a few days after we left the main square was flooded and tourists were swimming and wading to get to their destination walking with luggage above their head.

First glimpse of Venice

Lots of photo opportunities!

"Pidgey"

Rialto Bridge