Is Venice in Germany?

Monday 9^th June

Venice! Fantastic!

We caught the local bus down to the port – along with a crowd of others.It seems like the main tourists in town at the moment are the Germans - that was the language we heard on the bus, and everywhere. The port was straight down the main road and we could easily have driven the car but the bus was fine. The problem of the day was when we went to use the camera and discovered that we had left the camera card in the computer back at the hotel. Damm! We have had to resort to the iPhone for photos but I can’t download them so not sure how I will get them in the blog. I will try again tomorrow night when I have internet access.

The ferry went from Punto Sabbiano with one stop then San Marco square. Our first sight of Venice and we were impressed. There were hundreds of boats as we approached the pier, from little speed boats, water taxis, ferries and of course the gondolas – also 2 cruise ships in town. Rob said for him Venice lived up to all the hype and was just like he had seen and pictured it. He loved San Marco square though I found the expanse of emptiness a bit of a down thing - probably because it was too hot to stand out in the middle and really 'feel the vibe'.

Ferries on the water as we approached Venice.

San Marco square.

Another view of the square

The clocktower.

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St Marks Basilica.

St Marks Basilica.

It was very hot (around 35) so we just ambled around the streets of Venice near the square. There were some lovely little shops away from the main drag and some beautiful Murano glass in every other shop – too much to choose from really. It didn't take long to find the main tourist strip with shops such as Prada, Gucci, etc and we quickly headed away from there. As we crossed over each canal we looked up and down at the gondolas on the canal and the traffic jams from time to time as they all waited their turn and also waited for delivery boats to pass up and down.

Our first canal we crossed.

The gondoliers - waiting for a fare.

Traffic jam on the water.

A lovely view down one of the canals.

Dog of the day 1 - something every dog must do.
With the loves of his life!

The church opposite the ferry terminal.

We went as far as the Ponte Rialto and stood at the top admiring the lovely canal. Back in San Marco square and we thought briefly about visiting the church but the queue was very long and it was very hot so we contented ourselves with admiring the outside, which was just beautiful. This is a lovely looking square with interesting buildings on all sides. A great place to sit and admire the architecture, or people watch, if it hadn't been so hot.

Standing on the Ponte Rialto
and looking back along the Grand Cananl.

The street leading up to the Ponte Rialto.

Dog of the day 2 - I'm with you dog.
 It's hot and I'm tired!

We had lunch in Venice before heading to Murano to see the glass blowing. This was a bit disappointing as it is just a very brief demo to entice you into the showroom. There were some stunning pieces there especially if you were after a really special piece (with price to match) but a bigger variety was on offer back in Venice in the little shops. From Murano we then headed back to our hotel, very tired, and very hot. Dinner done and now we are relaxing before an early night.