San Giorgio Caorle

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 ...

... 4. We had no problem getting cash from ATM's, and we think that is the best way, rather than taking dollars or travelers checks and trying to convert to Euros. There are a surprising number of restaurants and hotels that do not take credit cards, but most take MasterCard and Visa. 5. We saw three or four McDonalds total and no KFC, Pizza Hut, or Starbucks. This was a refreshing change from what we saw in China. Coca Cola was the biggest US brand I noticed in Italy.

... of our trip to Venice, my travel partner and I were tearing through articles, maps, and tour books that were spilling over every available surface in the apartment. Things came to a sudden stop, however, when I turned to page 40 in the tour book. Right in front of my eyes in a box entitled "Floods and a Dying City" it said although off season was a great time to see Venice we should remember that it floods about 100 times a year - normally in March and November. GULP. Wasn't this ...

... is, and the buildings look like they are crumbling, but with balconies full of creeping vines and colorful flowers, deterioration (sp?) has never looked so fantastic. I don't even think I'm going to do much here besides wander through winding streets taking pictures of windows and boats and balconies and doorways and alleys. Everything looks so interesting. It'll be a great time to ...

The weather has improved immensely! Friday in Barcelona was beautiful and this weekend was a little cloudy in Milano , but not bad. It was nice just to run errands with my friend and spend time with her parents... it really felt like coming home! I'm in Venezia now, took the train in this morning... I love ...

... lunchtime so we went to a little Pizza place recommended to us by our TM and got some lunch...pizza..yummy We then wondered through the streets towards the Realto Bridge. The famous Venetain bridge that has shops above it. There were lots of little markets open around this area too and we spent a great deal of time here just exploring all the little shops. It was really nice and relaxing. Me and Megan ended up buying some more ...