Hotel Universal Terme Abano Terme

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 ...

... permitted me to do all movements required. While I was doing the exercises in the thermal basin, followed by the physiotherapist, Andrea, I haven't had any kind of pain or stiffening. Andrea has explained to me that here everything turns around these resources and how, in a natural way, can be cured arthrosis, arthritis and several deambulation problems and also more serious cases after an operation or others such as dermatitis. My wife has been ...

... which is basically where the couch we're sleeping on is located. We went and found a little place to have lunch...and I mean LITTLE. Our apartment is bigger. Try going into a place like that with 9 people to get a table. We ended up splitting into 3 groups and it all worked out well. Then Mom and Dad came back to the apartment. The rest of us decided to explore. We found all of the people on the way to St ...

... get onto a boat!!!!! Oh well, it wasnt too bad, the fresh air helped. We took the boat over to the centre of Venice where we started in San Marco Square at a venetian glass blowing demonstration. After that, on the advice from our tour guide, we wandered, and got lost, through the little streets of Venice. We didnt really do much besides take a ton of pictures, but it was beautiful!! A very cultural experience. After a while we met up with the rest of our tour group and ...

... views of Venice. I really wasn't trying to look like a saucy tart, I swear. ------------------------------ Another photogenic ...

... It was fine though and we were able to buy drinks and food from the guard who we nicknamed Boris who was operating a little black market canteen from his sleeper cabin! I think he loved us as we were his best customers since we decided to hit the wine as we sat and watched the countryside go by. Actually the next morning we didn't want to get off the train since we enjoyed it so much. Have you ever heard of a place where it is prohibited to drive a car ...