Abroad in Wales

Venezia

The landing at the Venice airport was surprisingly smooth for RyanAir.  After getting through customs and passport control, we had a late lunch while waiting for the next bus to take us into the city.  From there, it was a ferry to the island our hotel was on.  The ferries are, of course, the Venetian equivalent to buses.  There are regular routes and dock-stops; you generally don't have to wait longer than ten minutes to catch one.  And once you find your sea-legs, they're not so bad.  I quite enjoyed standing on the deck and seeing the canals.

Here is a view from a ferry.

Here was our hotel on the island of Lido, Venice. 

 The next day we set off to see one of the most famous spots in Venice, the Piazza San Marco.  Here is a picture of the mouth of the Grand Canal on our way to San Marco.

 Here is the Piazza San Marco.

 Still in San Marco and Natalie is playing with the pigeons.  They actually feed their pigeons here.  In the U.K., they sometimes feed the pigeons...rat poison.  Natalie, you are going to get so many diseases.

After seeing the square, we decided to go shopping!  Here is a typical street in Venice.  Narrow. Very narrow.

 Typical canal.

 And, of course, I had to get a gondola shot in here.  These gondollers were actually singing!  A rarity nowadays.

 One day, I will be able to make a Carnivale dress like this.  Just gorgeous.

 More Carnivale memorabilia.  It is absolutely everywhere!  But then again, Venice is the home of Carnivale - Mardi Gras, only better.  Every other shop sells the masks.  I even got a little porcelain mask for myself.

And I will leave the pictures with this rather humorous one of a Venetian Santa and his team of reindeer.

Venice was absolutely wonderful!  I could have spent ages there.  But we had to leave for Florence.  Two days later, we were on a train, bound for a city across the boot. 

Posted at 09:03AM Jan 12, 2008 by Jill S Brink in General  |  Comments[0]