Chris and I decided to take a long weekend over Valentine's and drive to Venice, Italy. It was only a 5 hour drive on the fast Italian Autostrade!
Chris on the bridge by our hotel. It was in a great location. Super close to everything and if we opened our window, we could hear the Gondolier's singing to their customers.
We started our trip at Basilica San Marco which had incredible mosaics and marble columns brought back from Constantinople. That night we ate at a traditional Venetian restaurant.
Poor kid getting attacked by dirty pigeons in Piazza San Marco. Yeah, I didn't get near the birds... 
Ponte de Rialto on the Grand Canal. I started my Christmas shopping at the Rialto Market which pretty much starts on the bridge and continues along the other side of the Grand Canal. There was tons of Venetian glass, Carnival masks, t-shirts, gondolier outfits and street food.
Top of the Basilica and Doge's Palace taken from the Campanile.
San Giorgio taken from the top of the Campanile. This photo reminded us of our two homes... It was foggy the entire trip like NorCal and there were cranes all over the city just like Swissland!
I really wanted to go to a glass factory on Murano so we asked our concierge to suggest a place. She called one of the factories and they sent a boat to pick us up. The driver dropped us off in front of the factory. We started to get in line to get in and the driver started yelling something and a guy came out of the factory and escorted us in. We totally got the VIP treatment!
This is the master artist working on a glass horse. We had our own tour guide who explained the glass blowing process. Then our guide took us to view their "Masterpiece" collection. When he figured we didn't want to afford any of their 14,000 masterpieces, he kindly escorted us into the gift shop. I mean there are only so many places you can put a $10,000 glass clown.
These are my new friends that were a little early for Carnival. And yes, Ms. White had a 5 o'clock shadow...
Chris in the courtyard of the Doge's Palace.
I'm a little embarrassed to say that we ate dinner Hard Rock Cafe one night. It's been so long since I've had a good hamburger I just couldn't resist.
Chris fell asleep on our gondola ride it was so relaxing. Our gondolier was so nice and tried to sing some American songs for us. I love when people make up their own words...
He was also very good at making cat noises. I don't know if that is a talent they all possess, but it was entertaining none the less.
This quick trip was so fun! I hope we can return when it is a little warmer.
Looks truly amazing!
ReplyDeleteIf only Reno was Venice....you know what I mean. 5 hours can transform your life. I could totally picture your gondelier being on American Idol (which is airing right now) making up his own lyrics and then getting dirty looks from the judges. LOL. How about Chopper barking at all the cat noises. Is this your new camera being put to work?
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