Road Trip Day 1

Driving through Atlanta is always interesting. Some times traffic is light and other times it is extremely heavy. On this day traffic flowed smoothly and we made good time. Next stop Chattanooga. Pardon me, but have you seen the choo choo?

Thinking of You

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Kenneth Earl Barth

February 8, 1937 - December 14, 2012

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Statue of Mary - Venizia Santa Lucia Station

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Statue of Mary, near the Santa Lucia train station in Venice, Italy.

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Crowded Streets and Canals

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This is the first alley we had to navigate on our way to our hotel. As you see, navigation is not only complicated by twists and turns and bridges and canals, you must add people to the mix. And there are plenty of people in Venice. We arrived early in the day on Wednesday and at each intersection we had to stop and orient ourselves to the map, find our exact location on the corner of a building, and proceed hoping that we were heading in the right direction. On Saturday and Sunday you can easily double the number of people on the streets. This was a Friday afternoon.

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Bridge of Sighs - Connects the Doges Palace to the Prison

One thing that I found endlessly fascinating was that no matter which direction you went, you miraculously ended back at your starting point. I cannot count the number of times in which I thought I had walked miles from the hotel to find that I had circled back and never saw that same shop or street twice. 

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Another interesting tidbit is that relatively few people live in Venice. As time passes, it is becoming a living history museum. Workers travel from the mainland to work because it is very expensive. I can certainly agree with that based on the amount of money we spent for our room and restaurants each day. 

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The Campanile, Venice, Italy

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Taken from the Grand Canal. 

To read more about the Campanile, check out the wiki link.

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Pollazo Ducale, (Doges Palace), Venice, Italy

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Taken from the vaporetti as we cruised the canal. Quite a beautiful building with the gondolas lined up out front. The Bridge of Sighs is on the right out of the frame and you can see the Dome of St. Marks in the background. I believe the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas mimics the front facade.

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Standing Room Only

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Looking for a quick trip across the Grand Canal? For about .50 euro cents you can hop on one of these 'commuter gondolas' called a traghetto. Not fancy or romantic, but it is quicker than the vaporetti.

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Canal Grande, Venice, Italy

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The Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge during morning rush hour. The Rialto is one of four bridges that crosses the Grand Canal and separates the San Marco district from the San Polo district. This area has several large market areas for fresh produce and seafood. 

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As we were crossing the bridge, we came upon a group of police who were following a group of students protesting the international banking system. From what I could see, there were no confrontations between the two groups as they headed en mass to Campo San Polo. We were heading to the church of San Polo, so we just followed the crowd. Before we visited the church, we stopped at a local cafe for our first real cups of Italian espresso (for TOM) and a cappuccino for me. I could drink that coffee all day...and we almost did. It was that good. We sat for at least an hour at the cafe watching the colorful group of students as they left the campo and the protest ended for the day. 

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Piazza San Marco, Venice, Italy

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Piazza San Marco on our arrival day. It was a bit dreary, but  not raining. We dumped our bags in our room and hit the streets. Our hotel was only 5 minutes from the square so of course that was our first stop. The line to get into the church was quite long at this time of day so we strolled round the square, just taking it all in. The cafes with their string quartets, shops filled with colorful masks, and beautiful Murano glass. And let's not forget the gelateria...Magnifico!. 

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Upon completing the circle, we decided to stop at a panini shop, which would be off to the left in this shot, for something to eat. Did I mention, that there are not any public benches to sit on in the square and that all the tables are reserved for 'waiter service' which of course you pay a premium price. So we sat on the steps to eat our panini and salad and drink our sodas. Not until after we finished our first Venetian meal did I see this sign..

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It is against the city ordinance to sit on the steps and eat!!! Seriously! We were lucky we didn't get busted. No one to bail us out in Italy : )

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Locanda Silva, Venice, Italy

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Our hotel is on the right, the first sign near the greenery. It was a quiet location and during 'rush hour' the canal is full of gondolas. Occasionally, someone will pay the extra euro to have a gentleman sing 'Volare'. I remember one night, up in my room with the window open, I could hear the singing. I never got a good picture of the canal with all the gondola. And we never rode on one either...so cheesy. Anyway, quite a charming location. Good thing we had a good map or we never would have found the place. 

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