The City of Masks...

Someone recently asked us what our favorite city has been so far. We had a difficult time answering that, because each new city has it's own charm and amazing points. Each new city is our favorite. This was also true about Venice. We took a fast train from the south of Italy, in Rome, to northern Italy in Venice. It took about 4 hours which is great time considering the distance that we covered.

It was so fun to see the classical "Venice" scene as we approached the train station...no cars, just water, St. Mark's Sqaure, gondeliers....the works!! The first thing we did was book our night train out of Venice to Vienna. We then bought our "vaparetto"- water bus- tickets, and made it over to St. Mark's square. Mark has been our amazing navigator this whole trip. He is the map master, I tell you!! I thought I had a sense of direction before this trip, but once we hit Europe turf, I was lost!! I decided that it was my turn to find our final destination, so I took off. I'd been to Venice before- all the way back in 2000, so it was fun to walk around, and see what I remembered. I led us all the way to our hotel, and I didn't even know where we were going. We just happened to get there!! I felt brilliant!

Our hotel was located a quick 2-3 minute walk from St. Mark's square. It was beautifully located on a small, back-street canal. We dropped off our bags, and decided to get lost somewhere. Venice is very difficult to navigate. It is so easy to get lost in the canal streets. We ended up finding our way to a pizza shop, and we sat by the canal, and had some coke and pizza. It was very yummy! It was such a perfect setting. We watched all of the gondeliers gracefully push their gondolas through the peaceful water. That night, we went to a Rick Steve's recommended place for dinner. It was located right on the canal. We very much enjoyed the setting...the food was okay, but we were paying for the location! Before dinner, we were walking around the Rialto bridge area, enjoying the scene. We walked by a chess store. The owner made all sorts of different sets that were very interesting to gaze at. Mark took a picture of one of the sets, and before you know it, the owner comes outside, screaming at us to pay her for the picture we had just taken!! "5 euros for that picture! 5 euros!" She was so angry!! We just walked away...she was so rediculous! She is in the wrong town if she doesn't like tourists.

The next day, we visited Frari church, browsed the streets and window shopped, enjoyed a local farmer's market, visited the Correr Museum, St. Mark's Basilica and Doge's Palace. After a long day, we enjoyed yet another gelato, and enjoyed the dueling orchestra's in San Marco square.

The next day, we spent a good portion of the day relaxing, and working on some apartment stuff from back home. We did see another beautiful church called Salute. That night, we left on the night train for Vienna. Let's just say that we really do not enjoy night trains...You just don't sleep at all! But it saves you sightseeing time the next day!

We will post again from Vienna!