First of all, "Happy Birthday" to our grandson, Jacob. Fourteen years ago today we were elevated to the high position referred to as "grandparents". We have been re-honored nine additional times since that date and feel very blessed.
Our day in Venice was wonderful, but very tiring. We wanted to see and do everything, which always creates problems. After our breakfast at the hotel, we went first to the tower on St. Mark's Square and rode the elevator to the top for a view of the square and the rooftops of Venice.
We went to a lace showroom area and learned how handmade Venetian lace is created. Ladies are taught the skill and do their work at home. The lovely items are sold from the store we visited.
We went from there to the train station to secure our reservation on the train to Florence for tomorrow, and then walked back to the square over many streets and over countless bridges. When we arrived at St. Mark's Square it must have been high tide because there were large pools of water in various places. It was a warm day, and plenty of sightseers had removed their shoes and were splashing in the water. We decided it was time to go to the room for a few minutes and let the water level go back down.
Our hotel in Venice is the Hotel Riva, which is very close to St. Mark's Square and right on one of the canals used by the gondoliers. Our hotel is the red building in the photo. The other shot was taken from our hotel window, which is on the second floor. It is beautiful, and we have learned to manage the small room in order to have such a "Venetian" view.
We purchased a vaporetto pass that is good for 24 hours. The vaporetti are equivalent to city busses, only they are boats that stop at various locations along the Grand Canal. They are often extremely crowded and it is standing room only during the busiest hours. That saved us some walking. We got so good at using the vaporetto that at one point I was able to help another tourist and show her how (and where) to swiipe her ticket! Do you think she mistook me for a local?
Lunch was at a small restaurant, and we decided to have pizza since we are in Italy. Although pricey, the pizza was delicious, and I may never be able to enjoy Domino's again.
We finally located a store that could sell us a SIM card for Italy so I can reach the internet to post the blog from any location that you could use a cell phone...like our hotel room. This made Olen very happy since he did not like the noise in the Hard Rock Cafe, and last night that was the only place we could find that had free internet for customers.
We used our passes to ride the vaporetto up and down the Grand Canal, where we got geat views of the Rialto Bridge.
At one point we got off at the Jewish neighborhood of Venice. That was interesting, and we found several items there much more affordable than those around the St. Mark's Square area. We enjoyed an ice cream cone, and located a rather large Jewish man who was a genuine Venetian computer geek. He helped us out of a computer problem that had been bugging us, and the part he recommended for the solution cost only $3.50. Hooray for Venetian geeks!
We are back at the hotel tonight with the windows open listening to the boats go by our window while promising our feet that "tomorrow will be a better day". Perhaps tomorrow we will not walk quite as far. Tomorow we finish our sightseeing in Venice and take the afternoon train to Florence. The fun just goes on and on. What an absolutely wonderful adventure this is!
So, again, "Happy Birthday" to Jacob. We hope today was special to you; and we hope today was special to each of you who honor us by taking time to read our little blog.
Our day in Venice was wonderful, but very tiring. We wanted to see and do everything, which always creates problems. After our breakfast at the hotel, we went first to the tower on St. Mark's Square and rode the elevator to the top for a view of the square and the rooftops of Venice.
We went to a lace showroom area and learned how handmade Venetian lace is created. Ladies are taught the skill and do their work at home. The lovely items are sold from the store we visited.
We went from there to the train station to secure our reservation on the train to Florence for tomorrow, and then walked back to the square over many streets and over countless bridges. When we arrived at St. Mark's Square it must have been high tide because there were large pools of water in various places. It was a warm day, and plenty of sightseers had removed their shoes and were splashing in the water. We decided it was time to go to the room for a few minutes and let the water level go back down.
Our hotel in Venice is the Hotel Riva, which is very close to St. Mark's Square and right on one of the canals used by the gondoliers. Our hotel is the red building in the photo. The other shot was taken from our hotel window, which is on the second floor. It is beautiful, and we have learned to manage the small room in order to have such a "Venetian" view.
We purchased a vaporetto pass that is good for 24 hours. The vaporetti are equivalent to city busses, only they are boats that stop at various locations along the Grand Canal. They are often extremely crowded and it is standing room only during the busiest hours. That saved us some walking. We got so good at using the vaporetto that at one point I was able to help another tourist and show her how (and where) to swiipe her ticket! Do you think she mistook me for a local?
Lunch was at a small restaurant, and we decided to have pizza since we are in Italy. Although pricey, the pizza was delicious, and I may never be able to enjoy Domino's again.
We finally located a store that could sell us a SIM card for Italy so I can reach the internet to post the blog from any location that you could use a cell phone...like our hotel room. This made Olen very happy since he did not like the noise in the Hard Rock Cafe, and last night that was the only place we could find that had free internet for customers.
We used our passes to ride the vaporetto up and down the Grand Canal, where we got geat views of the Rialto Bridge.
At one point we got off at the Jewish neighborhood of Venice. That was interesting, and we found several items there much more affordable than those around the St. Mark's Square area. We enjoyed an ice cream cone, and located a rather large Jewish man who was a genuine Venetian computer geek. He helped us out of a computer problem that had been bugging us, and the part he recommended for the solution cost only $3.50. Hooray for Venetian geeks!We are back at the hotel tonight with the windows open listening to the boats go by our window while promising our feet that "tomorrow will be a better day". Perhaps tomorrow we will not walk quite as far. Tomorow we finish our sightseeing in Venice and take the afternoon train to Florence. The fun just goes on and on. What an absolutely wonderful adventure this is!
So, again, "Happy Birthday" to Jacob. We hope today was special to you; and we hope today was special to each of you who honor us by taking time to read our little blog.
Venice looks so beautiful, I can't wait to see pix from Florence!
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