Dimora Dei Fiori Venice

Day 7, Florence

If Rome and Venice were “aerobic sightseeing,” Florence was a triathlon! Three world-class museums (plus lunch,, Rick Steeves’ “Renaissance Walk” and two harrowing bus rides in and out of town) all in about nine hours!

We started the day with a bus ride into the city center of Venice. (Even though we have a rental car, the city center is what is called locally a “no go zone’” This is a ...

Day Six, Venice to Florence:
Today was a travel day for us: getting out of Venice, picking up a rental care, making our way to Florence by way of Padua.
How we hated to leave Venice! We agree that a month here would just scratch the surface. Around every corner is a new piazza and a new adventure. We will be back!
Michele was intent on seeing the Calatrava bridge before we left Venice. For ...

... they no longer swarm the tourists. But it you still have to watch out for the Pigeon Poop! The Basillica was another feast for the eyes - and ears! As we approached the central altar, imagine our surprise as the “theme” from Phantom of the Opera suddenly blasted from the organ!
Next, we toured the Peggy Guggenheim Museum. This wealthy American woman, who lived in an palatial home on the Grand Canal, had two great loves: her dogs and modern art. After her death, her ...

... places where you can observe art in the setting it was created for. Titian considered this his home church and, besides having many of his creations there, he is buried in the main church.
We had to hurry back to our hotel, or to our neighborhood. We had stopped in a little shop nearby, planning to bring some snacks and drinks back to the hotel later. We asked the shopkeeper how late he would be open. He stated firmly, “I close at 8 o ...

... All of us girls crashed on the bed and Steve decided to go explore since he didn’t have as long in Venice as we did. We all eventually woke up and took showers, then met Steve to go exploring. Venice is a very beautiful city, though it does smell somewhat like fish but that didn’t bother me. We walked for hours. Winding around the back streets and bridges, trying to see what treasures we ...

... is no exaduragtion. We turned left and at every turn after that we had no idea which way to go. Even though these fields of ruins were teeming with tourists we still managed to find plenty of areas where you could feel alone. It was amazing. There was so much to them. At one point we found a lookout amongst and ancient botanical garden and looked out over one corner of the ruins, the main area where the rulers used to live and were buried. The forum was easily big enough ...

... we went in October. Burano was so lovely. It was just as I remembered it. All of the houses are painted different colors and they are all lined up along the canal. It was raining pretty badly that day so we walked around and then found a cute little café to have lunch at. It was so cold that I even had hot chocolate and because Italian hot chocolate is literally just chocolate heated up, so yummy! We explored the Island ...

... for only about an hour... getting used to lines. I have;however, noticed that to some tourist a line does not mean anything and aparently that is hightened in Italy! Anyway the Basilica was very beautiful. I climbed up to the top and went through the museum and got a wonderful view of St. Marco's Square and the bay towards Murano Island. I headed back to the bus terminal and desided to try my luck walking. It was very ...

... no idea how it got that heavy after sending over 40 kilos back in Italy......mine is still incredibly comfortable, fits me like a glove and i can move about freely and almost forget it is on my back. anyway wind through the streets and eventually make our way to Casanovas. to get there you take a few "alley" like paths and i could see the look on Ts face like.....ok....where is she taking me....hahaha. so Casanova had this weird combination of remembering me, but not ...

... protected by plastic sheeting. It's almost as warm as the glass factory inside, and though the coffee and hot chocolate are exorbitantly expensive, it's worth it for the life-giving warmth it returns to our bodies. We walk towards the square along the wide harbour-front promenade, passing the famous Danieli Hotel and Bridge of Sighs . To the left is the lagoon, with San Giorgio and La Guidecca islands, both sporting lovely churches. The promenade is lined with black ...