Venice

When we got to Venice it was mid-morning, the sun was shining and it was absolutely beautiful! Once again, we didn't have any plans, and didn't know how we were going to get to our hotel. This was a little more tricky because we were staying in a little local hotel rather than a Marriott and we were now in a new country with a brand new language that neither of us speak. We found our way around and found a water taxi that took us to the town square (an hour later). We wandered around Venice with our luggage trying to find our hotel for about 45 minutes. In Venice they don't really use street names, they use direction that sound like "Go straight and then take a left, another left, a right, go over the bridge and make another right and you are there". We did this about 10 times until we finally ended up at our hotel. Since they really don't have streets, they don't have street names...which makes sense. Once we were there a day we could easily find our way around and know where we were going. We stayed in a hotel with a room overlooking one of the canals and they had the best coffee in the morning (for me...Wade would gag if he even had to try it). In Venice you just wander around looking at all of the shops and eating the best Italian food and gelato. They have the most amazing blown glass that they make in Venice - Murano glass...it is beautiful and they have it everywhere. After about a day and a half we ran out of things to do...Wade doesn't sit still very easy unless it is on a beach in the sun...so what did we do??? We found a beach with sun and spent our last day here laying, relaxing, people watching and doing nothing. It was the middle of the trip, a perfect resting day and it was great!

The water taxi to Venice....

The main square piazza san marco...at night the restaurants (extremely over priced and charged a sitting fee just to sit there and enjoy the atmosphere) would have live music and string quartets. It was a great place to get gelato, and stand around people watching and listening to the music.

Our first experience eating authentic Italian...it was amazing.

Piazza San Marco

Getting lost in Venice

The view from our room at night....

You can't go to Venice and not go on a gondola ride. We couldn't resist and we did learn a few interesting facts about Venice and it was a great way to see the city...it was however way over priced! That has to be the biggest way to get money out of the tourist.

We learned that the water in Venice is a part of the Adriatic Sea and so every day the water raises and lowers based on the tide. We were eating on the grand canal and it happened to be high tide...it was interesting to see that the restaurants don't really mind the tide and the people just get a little wet during high tide.

We spent the last day on Lido beach. It is a separate island outside of Venice and you take a water taxi to it. It is the largest island and is much more up to date. It has cars and buses and up to date stores and hotels. We walked to the public beach where you can rent a cabana really cheap (15 per day) for a nice umbrella and chairs and includes a shower and use of the toilet (you have to pay everywhere else to use the toilet). We had such a relaxing day listening to the ocean, laying out and people watching. Lets just say that we were really close to France and it made for some interesting people watching...it is always the people that shouldn't be wearing (or not wearing in some cases) that are. Wade described it as like a car wreck...you just can't help but look...

When we were on Lido Island, the international film festival was going on. We were walking on the beach and ended up stumbling upon the festivities. We walked right in (we are in sales...just act like you know what you are doing and that you are supposed to be there) and walked around looking at all of the people.

Everyone was screaming at this couple and yelling their name...we have no clue who they are but it is our picture of the people that must be famous somewhere.