Ai Mori Venice

... of this one were Michelangelo’s “David” (of David and Goliath fame) and a series of unfinished works (also Michelangelo) that really gave some insight into his process. Next came the “Renaissance Walk” - about a two hour stroll from one end of the old city to the other, including stops at the enormous and beautiful “Duomo” (the cathedral nicknamed for its imposing dome), the Campanille -bell tower - (where we did NOT climb the ...

... struck Michele about the Venice bridge, well maybe three. First, it was not beautiful. She wonders where the money went. Second, it is not elaborate. She wonders where the money went. And, finally, this is the main bridge across the Grand Canal for newly-arrived tourist and, yet, there is no way to get a rolling suitcase over this bridge without hitting every single step. Could they not create a smooth ...

... endowed a museum of modern art, which seems especially radical in Venice, with its nearly universal focus on the Renaissance.
After dinner and a rest, we finished our day with a night at the Opera! We saw “The Barber of Seville” a great, silly romp of an opera - and to add to the fun, it was performed inside one of the old Venetian palaces, with each act taking place in a different room. (The small audience followed the players and the Piano Quartet from room to room.)

Tuesday, December 8, Venice, Italy.
Sleeper train from Rome to Venice. Sleeper may be a misnomer: we were only on the train for six hours and it was quite noisy, but we were so exhausted from our day at the Vatican that we both slept better than we expected to. Arrived Venice at 0-dark-thirty and decided to hang out at the train station and have breakfast, awaiting daylight, before taking the vaporetto (water bus) to our hotel. We ...

The two weeks after finals were very interesting and fun… Katy, Steve, Kelsa and I took a night train to Venice to start our trip. The train was not as nearly as bad as the one we took to Paris… at first, Katy, Kelsa and I were in a 6 person seating compartment with 2 other people serving in the military in Germany, but Katy and I quickly realized that the train was almost empty, so we took ...

... go out onto the balcony and overlook the San Marco plaza. Looked like the water might be retreating. There are horses on the balcony and a good view of the bell tower next door and the campanile tower.

Walking back down and out through the side door, we walked around to the front of the Basilica and indeed, the water is retreating as the tide goes out but we still ...

Just a little snippet of our trip to Venice...the city I have ALWAYS wanted to visit...on our one full day, we decided to see St. Mark's Basilica, Stopping on a beautiful bridge to feed my photographic illness...

...I got separated from James and Hannah. It was freakish, actually, but we spent time looking for each other and ...

... Lido Island, an 11 mile long "sandbar" not far from the main island. Our lodgings for the evening, the stately Hotel Des Bains, has a history dating back to 1900 itself. Royalty, poets, writers & celebrities have all enjoyed the hospitality of this beautiful old establishment. Yes, the floors creaked in places, and we noticed the lights/electricity flickering a few times here & there, but the magnificent full-length front ...

... the city are in the shape of a fish. This is quite an amazing place; it's a city with no roads but canals which provide access and transport throughout the city. St Marks Square is the city's central meeting place and it's here that you'll find the sacred inhabitants of Venice, Pigeons. Venice was discovered in the 9th century when fisherman noticed pigeons flying out to sea and as pigeons are not sea birds the fishermen ...

... it was freezing! I haven't felt cold like that in...ever! It is all a weird experience catching water taxis and buying tickets in a language you don't know, then getting off the boat and trying to find your hotel at 1am amongst a labyrinth of streets...Surprisingly it didn't take too long and we were pleasantly surprised by the state, and location of the room. Until the morning that is when there was no hot water and the workmen started up outside our window! The hot water turned out to ...