Venice - Final Day

Walking and Walking....

We spent our final day in Venice on our feet, walking around. How did we know where to go? We didn't - we just walked until we saw a sign like the one below. This is about the only way to get around - look for signs that point you to major landmarks. This one, Al Vaporetto, points you to the nearest water taxi.

We climbed over the Ponte dell'Accademia again heading towards the quieter side of Venice, a district called Dorsoduro.

Just as we got to the top of the bridge, we heard wailing sirens and noticed a boat speeding down the grand canal. Puffin got a shot of the boat as it sped by us. Turns out it was the firemen racing towards a fire.

Dorsoduro indeed is much quieter than San Marco. It seems like the side of Venice that is least touristy. We walked along many of the canals there and took photos.

Everyone else had the same idea - seemed like the whole district was out for a stroll, soaking up the sun.

Again, very few folks taking gondola rides. I saw many parked, waiting for clients.

The other thing you see in Dorsoduro that you don't see elsewhere is the laundry hanging out to dry. It made it feel much more like a normal neighborhood.

I like this bridge - it's built across a small canal to a restaurant.

The street art in Dorsoduro was good too.

An artist was obviously obsessed with animals.

We walked slowly around all day, stopping for lunch, gelato, coffee, snacks.... But just as slowly, time ran out on our vacation.

We made our way back to San Marco and I took a shot of Venice's own leaning tower.

We hopped onto the Vaporetto and inched our way up the grand canal towards our bus to the airport.

Marco Polo airport is like any other with one small exception - I've never seen huge lingerie ads bookending the departure information. Viva Italia!

Finally, a thanks to my benefactor. He paid for the whole trip, making it all the sweeter. I sent a postcard to thank him....

Venice, Day Two

A Strollers Paradise
This town is built for walking. We headed off in no direction in particular this morning and bumped into some gondoliers taking a break. Perhaps the global downturn has finally trickled down to the gondola trade?

The photos simply don't convey the maze of narrow alleys that make up this city. You can get lost within a minute without a map - and even with one. We dead-ended ourselves in blind alleys and small canals alike.

The canals carry a sluggish green water around the maze - throwing bright reflections high up the building walls.

As you can see, some of the canals are barely wide enough for a slim gondola to get through.

From the top of the Ponte del'Accademia we got a nice view east towards the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute.

Closer to the bridge is the Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti, which is now used as a university. We took a walk across the bridge into Dorsoduro and had lunch at a small restaurant.

A few hundred meters past the restaurant was an exhibit of Leonardo DaVinci's inventions, which was really interesting. It included many of the weapons he invented but most recognizable was the fixed wing that he hoped would allow man to fly.

Just outside was a much simpler invention, the elevated walkway. You may recall that Venice was flooded just a few months back and I guess these remain for the next one. They are close to two feet tall.

Here is a shot across the grand canal from the front door of our hotel.

Campo Angelo is a large square about a five minute walk from the hotel. We had coffee at a cafe here in the morning. In the evening, we returned to the church in the distance for a concert.

The concert was given by a group called Interpreti Veneziani who played Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Bach's concerto number 2. We bought the tickets earlier in the day while visiting a museum dedicated to baroque instruments. I learned that Vivaldi was born and raised in Venice, so what better way to spend an evening?

Venetian Weekend

Helping the World Economy Out

Puffin and I jumped a short flight to Venice for a three day weekend. We took a bus to the Piazzale Roma and then hopped onto a water taxi up the Grand Canal towards our hotel. The views from the water taxi were breathtaking.

About 9 stops on the water taxi, we got off at Sant'Angelo - our hotel is right next to the water taxi stop. We got a room facing the canal, with a balcony - you can see it just above the front door.

This is a view of the hotel from the rear. It has a nice garden to sit in, but it was a bit cool for that - around 55 degrees.

The view from the balcony is a nice one. In the distance is the Rialto bridge.

Here is a better shot of the Rialto Bridge zooming in with the camera. Later at night we took a stroll across the bridge and got a drink at a bar near the foot of it.

This is the view from our balcony the other way.

One of the first things I noticed is that everyone is dressed to the nines. Even the gondoliers wear fancy sunglasses as did our water taxi captain.

First thing we did was take a short walk to Piazza San Marco, the most visited site in Venice, I would imagine. It was late in the day, around 4pm, so the shadows were long.

We walked all around the piazza, had some coffee and dessert at a cafe and took photos.

Here is a shot of Basilica San Marco bathed in sunlight.

Details of Palazzo Ducale.

A shot of the moon above one of the churches that lined our walk back to the hotel.