Day 2: Venice and Murano

Venice is the most beautiful city. We recently watched The Italian Job in preparation for our trip, and Venice is featured in the beginning. It was so fun to see the city in person!

In front of the Rialto Bridge. Just some gondolas hanging out. The whole place reminded us of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. (You know that slightly musty smell? Love it.) This is a church we passed on the way across town. Little John is providing a size perspective. The inside was very decorated and we liked these spiral marble columns at the altar. We took a boat over to the island of Murano, where glass blowing is done. John fell in love with this dolphin statue, but I said no chandelier, no dolphins. This structure was in one of the plazas. I have no idea how it was made, but it was cool. It looked like they stole it from the Fortress of Solitude. This is a shop where they had glass blowing demonstrations. Waiting for our ferry back to Venice. Most of the streets there are narrow and since there isn't a lot of vegetation, the plants people grow on their balconies make it look so quaint. Apparently Pisa is not the only city with leaning tower problems. This is in the Piazza in front of St. Mark's Basilica. The exterior of the Bridge of Sighs, which connects Doge's Palace to its prisons, is being renovated, obviously. We wonder what Toyota had to pay for that advertisement. Inside of Doge's Palace It was a really big house. Back in the day people put slips of paper through this mouth hole with accusations for the inquisitors, including the Doge, to punish. No wonder they were called the terrible ten. I was putting in a nasty rumor, so if you get called by the Doge go into hiding. Their prisons are dark, cold, and scary. Just a gilded ceiling over a staircase. No big. Along with weapons, tools, and torture devices, we found this chastity belt. Ouch. This is looking out of the Bridge of Sighs from the inside, where there was a view of the water. We managed to capture not only too much light outside, but also too much dark inside. So go on faith. We think this was one of the Doge's gondolas. There were no descriptions, though, and Rick Steves failed us. Probably because it was new or temporary. Whilst walking back across town we found a Hard Rock Venice. Who knew? We didn't eat there, though, and John was hungry. So he started on the Campanile. My little elephant friend. One of the enclosed plazas as viewed from the ground. The restaurants in the square had muisicians. This one was my favorite with a little orchestra. They really love Mickey in Italy. And Winnie the Pooh, which they call "weenie." Disney infiltrated the whole country. John found his dream pizza. Back in our hotel, John was learning to appreciate the enormous shower we enjoy at home.