Venice, Italy

Friday, May 18, 2001
We spent many hours on the train to Venice. It was time well spent writing postcards, relaxing, and looking at the noticeable change of scenery on the other side of the alps.

Walli and Margit

Note the police presence

Margit and Angie
trying to understand an Italian hotel guide.

Angie, Todd, Tim, and Margit

First order of business: Find a hotel.

Venice is full of lovers. Lovers

There are no cars in Venice; all travel is by foot or boat.

Venitian gondolas.

Note the accordian

Cleaning his gondola

Delivering the goods.

The carts have a large pair of wheels in the back end and a smaller pair of wheels in the front.
This is to make going up and down stairs easier.
There are lots of stairs in Venice.

We finally took advantage of the hotel service at the train station and soon were on the Grand Canal, in Boat Bus #1, heading toward San Marco Plaza.

Our hotel was in the heart of Venice -- just off San Marco Plaza.

Our hotel

Angie and Todd

Toilet facilities on the streets of Venice
cost about 1,000 Lire.

The bathroom off the lobby of our hotel
is a squatter -- no toilet seat
and very low to the ground.

We have a bidet in our hotel room.

After checking in, we looked for a place to eat. We found a quiet out-of-the way place and had the pizza special and beers and lemonade. We noticed a sign which appeared to say something about smoking, but there were too many words for it to mean "no smoking." The waiter informed us the sign meant, "smoking okay, but not too much."

While eating, people came by our table to sell us roses, and a deaf man walked by and left a small teddy bear with a note. He came by again after a few minutes to collect either the teddy bear or the money. I remembered seeing an old woman begging at the train station.

After dinner, we walked the narrow streets and looked in shops and shop windows. We listened to concert music in San Marco Plaza. We watched artists painting au plein.

We were in the heart of Venice and the street merchants were aggressive and mobile. They spread their cloths on the ground and set out an array of toys, purses, and souveniers for us to see and buy.

Click hereto see a page with more photos of Venice.

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Last updated: May 25, 2002

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