Gratzi!!!!

First morning in Venice after finally getting settled into our "room". Wish I had the pictures loaded to show you, but will get them soon when we find reliable connections again. We headed down to breakfast, no brown eggs today, just crossiant rolls, melba toast and jelly....and of course coffee. After that we headed out on foot for early morning scouting to pick the best picture spots for later evening visits.

First stop was San Marcos square where I think the pidgeons just about matched the people one for one. I think the pidgeons were Italian and the people were asian. ;-). We marveled at the sights in the square, eyed ALL the kiosks selling the same thing, and surprisingly, all the same price. We then headed out to one of the canals and just started walking, looking at all the sights, old buildings, canals, and goldola operators. Seems as though it was just one continuous line of gondolas up and down the canals. While my first thought was "that is the way to see the city" I soon changed my mind when I saw just how MANY were out there...and well the fact that it was $100 didn't help matters.

We were up and down some really small streets, of couse no cars to worry about. We soon worked out way back toward the hotel for lunch at a small cafe two doors down from the hotel. Looked REALLY good, one reason we came back to there. Of course wasn't near as good as it looked.


We went back to the room to catch our breath and plan out the evening where we wanted to take pictures. Later I walked out on the street and on the corner opposite where we ate earlier there was a CROWD eating pizza...so I thought what the heck, I got a cold beer and slice of pizza there and took it back to the room. Was REALLY good, more like I envisioned "Italian" Pizza.

Just a short time later we headed back out on the streets and went the opposite direction from morning. We went off onto a more non commercial street because all the area around San Marco was just packed. Wall to wall people. The street we went down was much quieter, just locals sitting out on the street, kids playing soccer, much nicer, at least as far as I was concerned. I do enjoy the 'sights' but I also like to get the flavor of the local area and people. We took some pictures, checked out the laundry hanging across the streets, looked as some of the local boats and had some gelato.


Then we headed back to the mob scene to take pictures with the lights on. I can't wait to be able to post some of them because they are absolutly beautiful. We found a small restuarant right next to Grand Canal and had dinner there, then off for more pictures, and of course looking in the windows of ALL the expensive shops...Gucci, Prada, Armani, D&G, and all the others. I also drooled at the liquor prices too....DAMN CHEAP. A full liter of Bailey's Irish Cream for $10....large bottle of Johnny Walker Black label...$24...oh well, no liquids on the plane!!!

Well, getting late, time to head back to the room and check plans for tomorrow morning. We have to take a water bus again to head out to the ferry dock....lord knows if and how we'll get there, but we'll try.

I've tried to post the last three days blogs and for some reason the blog was frozen...said something about spam. Hopefully it will be up and running tomorrow so I can get ya'll caught up, then of course the pics will be coming as soon as we find a faster connection to get them loaded and transfered.