Albatros Hotel Venice

... and shout in minimum 100 different languages. Yes, everything became usual again... <br><br>At that time we hurried to the Square, we had to manage to visit at least the Doge's Palace. <br><br>First we tried to enter San Marco church BUT the queue!!!!!!!!! It was so big, we had no time.. <br>By the way, I learnt that the first coffee shop in Europe opened exactly on this square. Venice was then the biggest trading town in Europe, so it ...

We are traveling today to Siena and won't be able to communicate for awhile so wanted to give a big shout out to our friend John Ruppe. Have a good one bro, we love you!! We also wanted to tell the Heavens above to give Mick's Grandpa Ted a kiss and hug and ask to ...

... lemon veal<br>(VERY modern bathroom). Walked past shops in via 22 Marzo to La Fenice Opera<br>House, Bacino Orseolo with lots of gondolas parked, St Mark's Sq, all the way<br>to Santa Maria Formosa where Guido grew up in Calle del Paradiso (very old).<br>Ice cream in San Lio. Walked to Rialto &amp; took vap to San Marcuola to<br>S&amp;Gs. Rested &amp; ate dinner at Pontini's ...

... me, I love to start a conversation. Anyway, we met a guy from Detroi, two other guys from Washington, a girl from Arizona, a girl from Philladelphia and then a couple from Springfield. I was in talking heaven. We came back to our room, played cards and drank Budweiser we found at a grocery store here on Lido. Then journyed back for an evening stroll in Venice which turned into another evening "FALL" FOR ME!! Yes ...

... exhausted. On my directions to the hostel it advised us to take the water taxi and we found the stand right outside of the train terminal. Another strike... The water taxis only had two lines running due to yet another strike, neither went to the stop we needed and the woman told us it would just be easier to walk. Easy for her to say, we have luggage. If you know anything about Venice there are a lot of canals, which means lots of bridges to cross those canals... with ...

... site seeing in this heat.<br><br>So, the kids seem a bit quiet. Alex decides to write, and uses about 4 pages of paper. I think it may be the conclusion of his summer journal. Parker, being Parker, does his Parker thing. He has it down to a fine routine. Check out all the bathrooms, come back and report on them. WOW, this train has the kind that cleans the seat and rotates some type of plastic cover. He is excited by this and it means at least a dozen visits ...

... and explore the more modern are near the University. I made my way piazza by piazza. i am endlessly fascinated by Venice. A mixed generation city with both modern, Gothic and even Middle eastern looking architechture. I just was fascinated. I stopped for a cocoa near a miscellaneous piazza and watched some kids playing soccer and wondered what it is like to grow up here. Any way, Ponte Rialto was a beautiful sight but crowded with ...

We made our first trip to Venice today after a failed attempt of getting on the wrong train and going all the way to Slovenia! We were happy that we got it right this time! And since it is January, it was a bit on the cold side. But we had fun exploring and getting lost. I had no idea Venice was so big. We must have ...

... best thing about the hotel is that they have a complimentary hotel shuttle boat to the Zattere vaperetto stop and to St. Mark's Square and back again. We took the boat to Zattere and started walking around Venice. My husband had lived there for a summer in college, so he showed me the Academia bridge and then his old apartment near by. We walked over to St. Mark's Square, but the Basilica tours ...

... to get a second look at the Piazza Marco, and the Basilica as the sun was starting to set. That evening we decided to splurge, and to out to a nice dinner at a trendy restaurant near our bed and breakfast, where I got a pretty good pasta dish with whole crawfish. We spent the last night in the airport, cold and uncomfortable as Rachel had a 7am flight and I did not know a way to get to the airport at 5am from the island. I would ...