PICTURES FROM VENICE 08

We ate lunch here one day. As a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, it was a necessity.

And on the menu, Number 21.

This picture does not do these beautiful Murano glass turtles justice (many stores in the city sell Murano glass)

Mom looked at the ring on the left every time we passed this jewelry store. I finally got her to go inside the store to see it up close, but she wouldn't buy it (only 1,200 Euros -- she could have had it, if she had said yes).

Night view of the Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge.

The Rialto Bridge. The area where we were standing to take this picture was under about 4 feet of water from the recent floods.

Speaking of floods, you see the small raised walkways all over Venice. Because the city is built on the water there are frequent times when the streets become water covered, so these are there for the occasion. This is going down the small alley to our hotel. You can see how far up the water came this day, just from high tide.

This is the Orient Express made famous by Agatha Christie

Our train came in on the empty track beside the Orient Express.

On board at our seats (facing each other) ready to travel to Rome and catch the Koningsdam for the transatlantic crossing.  TTFN.

PICTURES FROM VENICE 07

Getting ready for our gondola ride. All of the pictures in this post are from this ride.

Out on the Grand Canal

Venice is built on pillars with many layers of foundations on top. This is the "ground" floor.

Back out on the Grand Canal after winding through some small canals. The trip was all too short (as was our stay in Venice).

PICTURES FROM VENICE 06

I took many pictures of the small canals throughout the city. As you've been told previously, there are no cars in Venice -- what a joy -- and the gondolas, water taxis and vaparetos (water buses) provide the transportation. We took a gondola ride our next to the last day (expensive, but worth it).

PICTURES FROM VENICE 05

On the water taxi going to the Murano glass factory. Below are pictures of a few of the many beautiful things we saw there. The hotel gave us a free taxi ride over and the factory a free ride back, saving us 70 euros (add 16% to convert to dollars.

8,500 Euros

2,400 Euros

Beautiful turtle. I forget how much it was, but it's still there, as far as I know.

PICTURES FROM VENICE 04

The front of our hotel. Our room was on the second floor (the same level as the balconies). This was a private home, built 300 years ago.

Inside the Peggy Gugenheim Museum. Our favorite exhibit was this fireplace.

A Picasso "At the Beach." He could paint some beautiful pictures before he went weird.

Mom posing on the patio of the Gugenheim. You can see our hotel over her right shoulder.

I don't remember the name of the museum, but this is Dadelus fixing the wings on Icarus.

A cannon for Mac

PICTURES FROM VENICE 03

Inside the church of Saint Stefano

The front of Saint Sebastian. This area, Campo Santo Stefano, was very close to our hotel, and we went through it often, eating supper three evenings (2 different restaurants), having gelato for dessert, shopping at the drug store, and wandering the side streets

There is a great display of musical instruments in Venice, and it is housed in at least two locations. These are 500-600 year old clarinets

Bonnie is posing near the Realto Bridge (Ponti De Realto) one of four bridges which cross the Grand Canal. We walked over two of the bridges (Realto and Academia) and sailed under Realto, Scaliz, and Costituzione.

Ponti Di Rialto

And the obligatory selfie

One day in our wanderings we stumbled onto Teatro La Fenice, the Phoenix Theater. It has burned twice, and stands today as perhaps the most beautiful theater in Venice.

Looking at these private boxes which line the walls, I thought of the Bolshoi in Moscow (if I remember correctly, the Bolshoi -- and the word means "big" -- is 6 layers high)

The ceiling of the theater (captured with the selfie lens)

The ceiling of Santa Maria del Rosario

Q-bert anyone?

The altar of Santa Maria