Greetings from Venice

It is Sunday (11 days into our trip) and we're heading to Venice. We were able to sleep in a bit today before we have to head down to breakfast. Hotel checkout is at 11:30 am and our train reservations are at 12:50.

Since we're not sure what type of food will be available on the train, we stop to buy a few snacks before boarding the train. The train ride is five hours with stops in Florence, Bologna, and Padova before reaching Venice.

Venice is absolutely breathtaking. When we arrived we purchased our vaporetto (water taxi) passes and jumped on. The vaporetto system is basically the city bus. Each line is numbered. All you need to do is determine the direction you want to go--to the left-a or to the right-a (Italians seem to add an "a" to the end of each word. Got to be quite a joke for us!) Some of the vaporettos make more stops than others. We definitely did not take the direct route. It was a very slow ride, but it gave us a good chance to take it all in.

Our hotel sits directly on the Grand Canal. Tom scored us rooms at the Westin. The rooms (and especially the bathrooms) are very spacious compared to the smaller rooms we've been staying in on this trip.

We got checked in, dropped our bags, and set took off to explore. The streets are very small and lined with shops and restaurants. We were headed for San Marco Square. After some navigating, we walked through an archway and there it was. It takes your breath away. The Doge's Palace on one side and the Basilica at the end. All the bells were chiming, the orchestras were all taking turns playing music around the square, and pidgeons everywhere!

We found a little place called Fakiani to eat dinner and watch the sights of Piazza San Marco. During dinner, the rain moved in. Luckily, we were under an awning so we managed to stay dry (for the moment). There was a break in the rain, so we were off to see more sights. The Rialto bridge is very cool. Not as many people as you'd imagine (here's where the Oregonian in us pays off...a little rain never hurt anyone!) We found it funny that as soon as the rain began, all of the annoying street vendors that were selling roses suddenly seemed to have umbrellas for sale.

We really enjoyed the thunder and lightning storm (amazing how many people still used an umbrella during the lightning storm). We headed back to the hotel, found some wine, and settled down for the night. The wines of this region are not as good as Tuscany. Although the whites are good. A chardonnay from the Fruili region is good, but not like ours. More like a Savingnon Blanc.
On Monday, we spent more time exploring and shopping. We watched the cruise ships bring people in by the boatloads, so we caught a Westin shuttle boat and went over to Lido beach. The weather wasn't so good, but it was beautiful. So much so we decided we needed some wine. What a surprise, right?

Tuesday is our "lay by the pool day." We had an amazing breakfast overlooking the Grand Canal. The sun was shining, weather was warm, view was amazing...what a great trip! We are heading over to Lido beach (Westin Excelcor) for the day. It didn't take us long to figure out that Venice by day is a zoo with all the cruise boats dropping off tourists. It makes Disneyland seem peaceful. So we are escaping the crowds and will come back for our last glass of wine in Italy, after the sun goes down.

We are missing all of you and look forward to seeing you soon!

Tom, Theresa, Tino & Collette

ps...still no baby!