Venice

This is what Greg wrote about our exit from Milan. "We left the apartment Sunday morning a few minutes after my target of 6:45 in what would become a daily tradition of me impatiently waiting for Andrew and he seeming dragging things out just to tweek me, oblivious of the time or my urgency." I wish that wasn't the truth-😂 (all " from now on are copied from Greg's more meticulous notes)

No one complained about the vanilla croissants we found for breakfast - like seriously we ate them nearly every morning for breakfast - Yum.

I enjoyed my audiobook and checking out the view while we traveled to Venice.  We stopped at mainland Venice and had to hop on another train to cross the lagoon into iconic Venice.  However, that train was delayed twenty minutes.  I happened to find another train headed to Venice in 5 minutes.  The ride was only 10 minutes so we jumped on and crossed our fingers that no one would check our tickets.  We arrived in Venice before our other train would have left - no ticket check!  I felt pretty rebellious.

We walked to our hotel and Andrew gave a quick sermon while I went to the bathroom right beneath him.

We wandered for a while then hopped on a ferry "headed for the Rialto Bridge, about halfway across the island.  The famous pedestrian bridge built over with shops teemed with visitors from around the globe.  We Americans were certainly dressed more casually than the Europeans and Asians.  We saw plenty of bling and heels that didn’t look very practical or comfortable for what would be a 20,000+ step day in Venice"

Mack saw a pizza place right as we exited the vessel and he was happy to buy a few slices for lunch.  The rest of us were holding out for some pasta and thus began our search.

The pattern that began this day and continued for the trip involved all of us looking in restaurant windows, scanning menus, looking at other patron's food, trying to decide if we wanted to eat there or not.  Inevitably, no one wanted to make the decision so we would pass restaurant after restaurant until someone got frustrated and we just picked a place.  Our Venice lunch choice turned out fabulous inspite of the fact that no one else was in the restaurant  - it was delicious.

We proceeded to wander - Greg leading us past certain churches and sites.  He had a plan but even with his map we had a few wrong turns and dead ends.  I didn't mind - I loved taking in all the narrow roads, random canals, and quaint buildings.

We enjoyed some fabulous gelato and Andrew loved his so much he decided to eat the spoon, or something like that.  He kept that little spoon in his mouth for the next few hours; it eventally broke and had to be thrown out as a health risk.

"We emerged on the outer edge of the city facing the lagoon and turned east for our first view of the Bridge of Sighs.  We later learned on our Doge’s Palace tour as we walked through the bridge that it led to the prison and the “sighs” were from the prisoners relinquishing their hope and freedom, though today it is for the sublime scene."

We checked out the square and exterior of St. Marks while I listened to a Rick Steve's audio tour.  Then we met up with our tour guide, Rita, skipped the line and got to go inside the basilica.

"St. Mark’s Basilica is at the crossroads of the east and west geographically and artistically.  It feels as much Byzantine as Roman.  The exterior façade and interior ceilings were entirely covered with golden hued mosaics depicting scenes from the Old and New Testament as well as the story of smuggling St. Mark’s bones to Venice where they reputedly reside yet today."

This mosaic shows Adam and Eve - I loved the amazing color of the tiles.  There was so much gold and the blue was so striking a picture just can't capture it.

The exterior and interior of the church featured different kinds of marble in various hues and textures creating variety and a look very different from western styled chapels.

We followed our guide into the Doge's Palace where the leader had his own private entrance to St. Mark's as seen in the inner courtyard.

I was absolutely wowed by the palace.  The celling and walls of the vast rooms were covered in art and gold decor.

We continued exploring the streets taking in the unique experience of a town filled with water ways.  We loved all the little bridges.

The recquired gondola ride gave our feet a much needed break.  Sadly we didn't get sung to but we had a laugh at a couple out for a romantic ride.  The girl looked so unhappy whenever her boyfriend wasn't looking at her but would paste on a quick fake smile whenever he turned to her or opened his eyes. Such duplicity must be exhausting.

The restaurant hunt began...  "After passing on 3 restaurants for dinner we gave up and walked into a small café with an extensive menu.  As we sat down I looked suspiciously at the single employee behind the counter who doubled as a waiter unfortunately we would learn chef.  When Lisa went to the bathroom I asked if she saw a kitchen down the hall—nope.  We should have left then, but stuck it out for our food which we watched in mock horror as he prepared it behind the counter with a microwave.  Eating at restaurants with kitchens became a requirement for any sit down meal for the rest of the trip.  The noodles were quite undercooked and my sliced roast and potatoes tasted like they had been warmed in a microwave and Andrew’s Chicken Milanese was pretty much a large chicken nugget.  I guess you eat and learn!"  We said we got "microwaved" for dinner that night - our new term for disapointing meals.  

With such a disapointing dinner everyone got their fill of gelato as we meandered back to our hotel that night totally exhausted and ready for bed.  We shared a room and bathroom but didn't mind too much because we were all so ready for sleep and the next day was bringing an early start.