May 18, 2013 Venice, Italy

Today, we slept in a bit and went down to the breakfast room. We talked to the desk clerk about getting a water taxi to the airport. They said it was no problem they would call for one in the morning.

Our plan for the day was to just wander. It really is one of the best things you can do in Venice. Just wander the narrow walkways that meander and occasionally lead you to dead ends or nowhere near where you may want to go. Of course you have to see all the “tourist stuff” too, but always build in some time to just wander.

We started with the slow vaporetto going the long way to St. Marks Square. We saw there were 4 ships in port today! No wonder it was so crowded today. Unlike the last 2 days it was a glorious and sunny day! Whoo Hoo it was warm and toasty too!. We headed for St. Marks Square to get some photos and then wandered around until lunch. We had a mid morning gelato.We stopped at a trattoria on the far end of the canal and had lunch. Both of our selections were lackluster. I had quattro formaggi and it was bland. Greg had pizza that was OK. I had a bellini and Greg had some wine.





After a leisurely lunch we set out to find a gondola ride. We had done one on our last visit, but it was quite disappointing. (and the gondolier took our photo and it was blurry.) He also talked non stop and it kind of ruined it. Today we got a great gondolier with a pretty gondola and we winded through all kinds of side canals and he whistled or sang along to the recorded music that another gondola was playing. He occasionally would point out a doges residence or a palace, but otherwise he just let us enjoy our ride. We were both glad we repeated the experience.

 off we go!

 that's our gondola at an angle with the traffic



We wandered some more of the city and stopped for cold sodas and some pastries that we ate sitting on the base of a statue. Some pigeons decided we looked easy and came begging for crumbs.



We walked for a few more hours stopping into churches and a musical instrument museum or whatever looked interesting. We stopped at the Rialto Bridge Hotel for a cold drink and a coffee before exploring the bridge area. I picked up a couple of trinkets and we decided it was too early for dinner and walked back to the hotel. We found the fruit and vegetable markets (and fish too even though there were no fish this late in the day…you could still smell them) Back at the hotel we tried to organize our packing better. Our weight was OK in total, but we needed to even out the suitcases. In the end we decided to pack an extra bag and check it. With everything packed except what we needed the next morning, we walked back to Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square) to eat at our favorite restaurant again. This time it wasn’t as good. My pizza was a tad undercooked, but the bellini was very good! Greg had a nice lasagna Bolognese and some wine.





Then, we walked back to the hotel stopping one last time at St Marks where we noticed there was some flooding. Actually, it seemed to be seeping up from the man hole covers. Time to call it a night since we have a 5:30 in the morning wakeup call. UGH! It was a wonderful end to our fantastic journey!