Tropici & Panama 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 ...

Blog Day 5 (Venice 2), Wednesday, December 9
We rose well-rested and after enjoying the hotel’s breakfast buffet, set off for St. Mark’s Square, where we spent most of our day. With the national holiday crowds dispersed, it finally paid off to be here in the off season! There were no lines for the Basillica or any of the “extra” (“for a small fee”) attractions on the square. It is no longer allowed to feed the pigeons, with the positive result ...

... 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 ...

... and lots of restoration work required throughout. The paintings are interesting for a while but we generally find ourselves beginning to look for the exit sign after a few rooms of rich Greek mythology, gods, symbolism and interminable ancestries. But one of the most interesting bits of this Palace was the prison, which was attached via a bridge: the Bridge of Sighs. The name is surprisingly not related to the reaction of the truckloads of tourists ...

... commissioned by the patrician families of the 15th and 16th centuries.  Equilibrium and symmetry were regnant in the palazzi of Venice where rich ornamentation, tall facades, and important balustrades all formed part of exhibiting family fortunes.  Since there are no roads in Venice, the palaces' most lavish ornamentation was focused on the waterfront façade, where guests would ...

... I pull out my money and say, "Due." Yeah. The ticket taker wasn't pleased with this option, gave us a stern look (I think he was like 20) and told us clearly and slowly in ITALIAN, "Something something billetto something something PRIMARA." And then proceeded to pull tickets out of his bag, and sell them to us for three euro each (should have been six euro each) and sternly provided them to us with change. If he can sell the tickets, and it's not ...

... was worth it. I spent some time up there looking over a sea of roofs mostly. Of course the canals could not be seen from that height. However I did get a good view of the ceremony below which had representations from the Army, Navy and Air Force with lots of old gents with medals. Either it was a memorial service for the war dead or it was a regular flag raising event for Friday morning. In the meantime Anne went into the Doge Palace with the group and a new ...

We went to St. Francis of Ascici before venice, it was interesting. We took the ferry ride to Venice today, it was so much fun. The Venician glass there was beautiful. Rode the gondella! That was something thats just really fun. The lace and masquerade ...