Venezia - City of Bridges

Milan link: michelleandstewartanderson.blogspot.com/2009/04/milan-aka-mediolanum.html

Athens link: michelleandstewartanderson.blogspot.com/2009/04/blog-post_08.html

Barcelona link: michelleandstewartanderson.blogspot.com/2009/04/barcelona-ciutat-comtal-city-of-counts.html

Here are the pictures from Venice. I know there are a lot, but Venice was my favorite place on this trip! I would go back in a heartbeat!

View of Venice from the train as we came in

San Simeone Piccolo and the Grand Canal as seen from Venezia Santa Lucia railway station
This was our first view of Venice after we got off the train.

Calle della Masena as seen from out hotel window
One way down the alley...

Calle della Masena as seen from out hotel window
...the other way down the alley

A canal in the Jewish Ghetto

Jewish Ghetto
The Jewish Community Museum is on the far side of this square.

A church on the Grand Canal

A canal in Venice

A view down the Grand Canal

A building on the Grand Canal
I love how the door goes to the water. Since there are no cars here, you just step out of your front door and into your boat.

Fondaco dei Turchi ("The Turks' Inn") on the Grand Canal
This is a Byzantine palace.

A building with neat windows on the Grand Canal
It is very difficult to take decent pictures when you're riding the water bus down the Grand Canal. I did the best I could.

San Stae (Saint Eustachius) on the Grand Canal
One of the many churches we saw in Venice.

Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal
It was impossible to get a picture of this bridge from the water bus without the front of the water bus in it.

Ponte dell'Accademia and a view of the Grand Canal
This was taken from the water bus. We took a trip down the Grand Canal on our first day and were able to take many pictures. It's worth it to ride the water buses!

A building on the Grand Canal
I really liked the painting on this building (or maybe mosaics).

View from the water bus on the Grand Canal

Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute on the Grand Canal

San Giorgio Maggiore Island
The church has the same name as the island.

Campanile di San Marco
This is the bell tower of St. Mark's Basilica.

A water bus at a water bus stop

San Giorgio Maggiore

Palazzo Ducale and the Basilica di San Marco a Venezia
The Basilica is the building in the background.

Ponte dei Sospiri (The Bridge of Sighs)
I really wanted to see this bridge, but I was seriously disappointed to see they had done THIS to it!

Church of San Giorgio Maggiore

Church of il Gesuati (Santa Maria del Rosario) on the Giudecca Canal

Hotel Leonardo
This is the wonderfully comfortable hotel in which we stayed. If you look at the two windows directly above the door, that was our room. The bed was divine!

A random canal

Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari
We waited for Rachel's friend here for over an hour. During that time, we sat on the bridge and people-/dog-watched. Rachel met a really cute dapple Dachscund named Chloe here.

A gondolier by Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari

A kiosk near Piazza San Marco
They had many kiosks selling masks around the city, but I can't figure out why. It seems that they were for Carnival, but that was over by the time we arrived.

Basilica di San Marco
This was absolutely phenomenal inside! The ceiling was covered with mosaics (mostly gold)...and I mean COVERED! There wasn't an empty space. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures inside.

Mosaics over one of the doors to the Basilica di San Marco
Imagine something like this, but everywhere on the ceiling!

View of Piazza San Marco from the balcony of the Basilica

St. Mark's Clocktower
The horses in the foreground are on the Basilica. These are not the originals. Those are located inside the museum of the Basilica and are much more impressive.

Mosaics on the Basilica di San Marco
The mosaics are quite fascinating. The shadowing around the eyes and the folds of the clothings are really impressive!

A view from the balcony of the Basilica di San Marco
The Palazzo Ducale is on the left of this picture, and you can see San Giorgio Maggiore in the background.

While were in the Piazza San Marco, we saw a crowd gathering. We went to see what was happening and found a barbershop quartet. Unfortunately, my recording is not the best (since it was rather windy that day). Even more unfortunate is that I didn't record the second song they sang, which was much cuter. I believe it was called "That's the Recipe for Making Love."

The steps and the Grand Canal in front of the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute
We sat here for quite some time talking. As nice as this looks right now, you should have seen it by the time we left; there was so much trash there. I don't know where it came from all of a sudden. At any rate, I liked the different colors in this picture: green to red to blue.

Buildings next to the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute

Some of the delicious gelato I ate in Venice
This particular one was pear and apricot...the pear was DELICIOUS!

Chiesa di San Sebastiano

A random bridge

A building in Campo Santa Margherita

Chiesa de San Nicolo da Tolentini

On one of the water bus lines, they announce the stops. They first announce it in Italian, then in English. We thought it was hilarious how they announced it in English, so I filmed a bit of our ride, while capturing the stop announcement in the background.

La Scuola dei Boteri (I think)

Isola di San Michele (aka The Island of the Dead)
This is the cemetery island of Venice. We passed by it on our way to Murano.

Boat lane markers

Murano Faro (lighthouse)

Invierno (winter)
Murano is an island in the Venetian Lagoon which is famous for making glass.

A charming building, Murano

A mosaic on a store wall, Murano

A clocktower and Cometa di Vetro, Murano

A monument and the clocktower of Santa Maria e San Donato, Murano

A window next to the clocktower, Murano

Church of Santa Maria e San Donato, Murano

A view of Murano and the Murano Faro
This is taken from the bridge right next to Santa Maria e San Donato.

A view of Murano and its Grand Canal

A view near the water bus stop/Murano Faro

Colorful houses in Burano
Burano is also an island in the Venetian Lagoon. It is famous for its lacework and brightly-painted houses.

Colorful house, Burano
Right after I took this picture, an old man in the house across from it asked me to go into his house. I thought it was a shop, but what he really wanted was to give me his address so I could send him a picture of myself. It was fairly creepy, but made even more so by the toothless kisses me gave me on the cheeks as I pushed my way out his door.

Colorful houses, Burano

Colorful houses, Burano

Colorful houses
This is my favorite picture of the houses in Burano. I'm so amazed that the colors came out as well as they did! It was incredible! And I love the bright blue sheets against the green house.

Dusk in Venice
I love the pink lanterns they have near the Piazza San Marco!

Pink lantern at dusk
The three-headed, pink lanterns are the best!

Dawn in Venice
This was taken from the train as we headed off to Rome. Yes, it really was that early...ugh.

Stay tuned for Rome.