Venice (Venezia) is a city in northern Italy which is known for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. Venice has also been described as being one of Europe's most romantic cities. The city stretches across 117 small islands in the Venetian Lagoon along the Adriatic Sea.
Today was about trains, boats, a wholelotta walking and more boats and more boats and another train and awholelotta walking. We toured Venice...What an amazing city! We meandered through the "floating city's" tight alleyways and canals to find grand squares, art filled plazas and interesting little shops.
Above is a photo I snapped while relaxing in Venice.
Reflections of Venice!
Above is a photo of a random gondola driver. I guess the I had it in my mind before I came to Italy that all of of the gondola drivers would be tall, dark, Italian, young men named Paolo. Nope, this is not the case. Most of them seemed to be of average height, not so average weight and not so young. I looked for Paolo but, didn't find him anywhere.
Kelly and I enjoyed a gondola ride while sipping sparkling white wine. We sat back and watched the city open up before our eyes. While floating along the canals, Venice's charm just grabbed us from every curve.
After the gondola ride we headed to a lace making demonstration at Lace & Linens. Venice introduced the invention of needle-made laces into Europe.Venice was the center of fashion for the courts of Europe in the middle ages.
Check out this guy's lace!
An old woman begs for money along the street in Venice. A lot of tourist pass these people by. They are told by tour guides that most street bums are fakes, only posing as homeless to make money. I couldn't really see how this woman could be a phony. She looked to be about 85 years old. Her legs were shaking and she could barely stand up. I was thinking about how we were all walking around and seeing these amazing sights and eating these wonderful dinners with delicious red wine. Here she was. I don't know, maybe she was a fake and maybe I fell for it. But, I tossed some money into her cup regardless.