More images of Venice ...

Just sharing a few more images of a really unique city ...

Venezia

Venice, still Italian but very different than Rome. Fascinating the way life is conducted without roads with the morning commute looking much like us but with boats jamming the Grand Canal. Venice's water buses (vaporetti)and water taxis carrying people to work and kids to school; other boats tranporting food supplies, furniture, trash, and construction materials; and special construction equipped boats.

Venice is simply a beautiful place, the building architecture, the canals, the narrow walks (maybe five feet wide) lined with shops and restaurants, bridges, and, of course, the gondolas. Losing yourself in the back walkways is an adventure ... and just plain fun, when you finally find your way back to your hotel. From Rome we learned to look for the street names on the building corners (if you can find one).



We stayed at the Hotel Becher close to St. Mark's Square (maybe a three minute walk) after you find it the first time. The hotel is very elegant with a canal platform/dock with tables and chairs for watching the parade of gondolas pass by and for being picked up for your gondola ride.



Impressions ... after arriving at the St. Lucia train station, we caught a vaporetta to take us to our hotel. The trip takes about 25 minutes (if you catch the fast bus ... fewer stops). Each turn on the Grand Canal brings different sights and sounds ... truly amazing sights to digest in such a short trip. We got off the vaporetti at St. Mark's Square and walked through the square attempting to find the information center, to get a map to our hotel. After walking to the two locations that Rick Steve's book showed, we gave up and starting walking in the direction we thought the hotel was located ... and then stumbled across the relocated information center (something to write Rick Steves).

We spent most of our time just adventuring around Venice, eating, looking at the variety of stores (it seems Italians really like their shoes and purses ... and in Venice, carnavale masks) ... and of course in the early evening a gondola ride. The rides are expensive ... but worth every euro. Our gondoleer never stopped talking over the one hour ride and seem to know everyone along the canals.



The next day we were off to Wengen, Switzerland ... and our challenge of making five train connections, so we knew that we'd better be on time for the trains (trains are extremely punctual ... and absolutely leave at the scheduled departure times). We needed to get an early start to catch a vaporetta to get us safely in time at the train station by 7:50 a.m. So figured for a 25 minute vaporetta ride to catch a boat by at least 7:15 a.m. Here's the rub, the express vaporetta is the #2 line ... you don't want to take the #1 line, which takes at least 45 minutes (stops at every bus stop). Well, no one told us that the #2 didn't run until 8:00 a.m. in the morning. We left by 7:10 ... and arrived at the train station at 7:55. The train had left ... we looked at each other and then looked at the empty train tracks ... and thinking now what, since we have multiple connections to get to Wengen.

Our adventure continues ...

A Sampling of Old Rome

The Forum

The Colosseum

Saint Peter' Basilica

The Main Alter

Stairs to St. Peter's Tomb The Pieta

The Vatican

Saint Peter's Square and the Vatican Grounds

The

Swiss

Guards

In the Vatican Museum

Just a sample

of

what's inside

the

Vatican Museum

ROMA

Just arrived in Venice after a whirlwind tour of Rome. So much history to explore...so little time. Our hotel (Hotel Maikol B & B) was located on the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele just a few blocks from the Termini Train Station, one block from a Metro Station, and within walking distance of many sites and restaurants. The neighborhoods in Rome all seem to surround Piazzas or central squares. Some of the piazzas look more parklike, some just have fountains, some are associated with a church...but all provide an informal public gathering place. There seems to be a church on at least every other block. We visited the Vatican yesterday. Defected from our tour group within the first 10 minutes and had a great time on our own. Walking through Saint Peter's Square and into the Basilica where Saint Peter's tomb and Michaelangelo's Pieta was a surreal experience. St. Peter's is the largest church in the world ... and we knew that going in ... but the interior size is simply huge. The Sistine Chapel is a sensory overload. Every square inch of the interior is covered by beautiful paintings and sculptures. To think about how Michaelangelo worked on his back for that many months to paint the ceiling that is beautiful beyond words is just mindboggling. The Vatican museum has so many works of art, many by the great masters like Michaelangelo, Raphael, and Bernini that it's difficult to appreciate it all.

After our tour of the Vatican we visited Ancient Rome (the Colosseum, Forum, and Church of Saint Peter in Chains). We can't even begin to wrap our minds around the fact that the same cobblestone streets and marble steps that we were walking on had been walked on 2500 years ago! At that time, before the birth of Christ, one million Romans were shopping and conducting business at the Forum and being entertained at the Colosseum. Saint Peter in Chains Church houses Michaelangelo's statue of Moses and the actual chains that held Saint Peter captive in both Rome and Jerusalem.

We were also able to visit the Trevi fountain (a very happening place in the evening), Monumento of Vittorio Emanuele II, and ride through the Borghese Gardens. We ate pizza and pasta at sidewalk cafes and travelled by plane and train (to Rome), and metro and bus (in Rome)...and a lot of hoofing up hills and steps.

Overall impressions of Rome ... historic structures and buildings are everywhere, life is lived loudly and boisterously, stop signs mean nothing, and food is prepared fresh and tastes fantastic!

Some technical difficulties on uploading the photos (maybe just user error)... but will send the photos later.

Caio ... for now.