Alloggi Gerotto Calderan 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 ...

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 ...

... Sarah and Adrian.

What can I say about Venice.. it was hot and packed with tourists!! lol so I didn't really get to soak up a lot of the atmosphere. We went to St Marco square full of pigeons and more tourists.. They took us to a famous glass blowing shop and family. It was quite fascinating.. of course it looked easy!! But the main work was in the shaping and not the blowing of the molten glass. Beaded glass was added and ...

... had an affair with a nun, was a member of the Freemasons, escaped the Venice jail, and wrote a book about all of his experiences. That was the most interesting part of the tour. We also saw the torture chamber, which was basically a big, long rope hanging from the ceiling. After the tour was over, I went back through the palace to ensure I hadn't missed anything cool. I hadn't.
I then ate lunch at an outdoor cafe near ...

... off the bottom of a small water bottle to make a wine glass, and sat on the steps of the square, drinking the wine we´d bought earlier, next to people at the cafes paying ridiculous prices for wine not half as good as ours. We were a little messy by midnight, but virtually had the whole place to ourselves. The cafes had packed up, the tourists had gone home, and it topped off one of the best days on the whole trip.

... canals, much of the streets ending in a canal or a dead end. But its all good fun and we didn't use a map the entire time we stayed there. Of course with that said it doesn't pay to get unbelievably lost in a sudden downpour, and then listen a half brained plan about getting unlost (thanks Kev, going forward is not necessarily quicker than going back). Highlights of Venice were playing around with the carnivale masks- we found the shop that ...