5 Days in Venice

   Strikes me that the title of this post might be borrowing from a Blue Rodeo album but nevertheless I don't recall Blue Rodeo singing about Venice.

  When we planned this trip we allocated 5 days to Venice and we are in our 4th day and it seems to me that the planning was perfect. We have seen and done all of the things that we didn't have time for last time we were here and had time left over to explore a lot of the city.
 The two  main things on our agenda were:

 #1 Joani had booked us into a 90 minute glass blowing class where we would see a craftsman make a piece and then the same craftsman would help us make a piece. That happened yesterday morning.

 The brown piece is mine and the blue piece is Joani's. Our talent is undeniable and we would take it up as a business but we would both feel guilty putting all the Murano craftsmen out of work.

 #2 We didn't get time to see the interior of San Marco Cathedral last time we were here, so we did that today.
 This first shot is of the line up to get in! We got in this line at 9:15, fifteen minutes before it opened and we entered the Cathedral at 9:45. The lineup behind us was twice as long as in front of us. Popular place to visit, but you definitely want to get there early if you don't want to waste the whole day.

 This shot is just to show you how ornate it is outside. The interior is even more elaborate but we don't have any photos because they are very adamant that you don't take photos inside.

 In total, these two things would take up two mornings in our schedule which would leave us a ton of exploration time, and boy have we done a ton of exploring! As usual on these trips, I find myself feeling sorry for Joani. For any of you that see me at work, you know that I spend most of my day on my feet at Sunnybrook. Most of my job is spent walking the halls of the hospital or standing at my carts loading and cleaning, so walking around all day over here is no big thing for me. Joani's job is different. She uses her brain more than her brawn, sitting at a desk in front of a computer terminal all day. No less tiring, but definitely less physical, so walking around here all day on concrete and cobblestones is very hard on her. She also has to deal with the fact that when I'm excited, I have a tendency of almost running or at least walking very fast to whatever site has caught my eye. Basically touring around with me could be compared to hanging on to a tiger's tail and if she lets go, I have the map and am the designated navigator, so she could get lost. Precarious position indeed!
 With all that in mind I do my best to be a good husband and can admit that I haven't lost her once on this trip. So far!
 But I have dragged her all over Venice. We took a local transit boat to Murano, then the entire length of the Grand Canal, and even took another transit boat that took us around the outside of Venice into open water. Joani kept her Gravol close at all times, but kept close to her seat while I hung out the side of these boats trying to get as many shots as I could. We have also walked around as much of Venice as we have had time for. The main part of Venice Is broken into 6 districts and 2 Islands and so far we have covered 5 of the districts and 1 island. Tomorrow I'm hoping to walk around the last district, and if we do, I feel that we will know Venice as well as anybody except for the residents. I love exploring!

So onto some photos.

First,

 Day time in Venice.

The Rialto Bridge is one of the top three sites.

If you do take a Gondola ride, Take along your own Accordion player!

Before you start thinking, "enough with the canal shots", remember, when you're in Venice you're always seeing, riding on, or circumnavigating around canals.

I love this shot! Just think about living in one of these houses. If you wanted to play in the back yard you would either need to be a good swimmer, or own a boat!

I have no idea why this guy is up on this pole but he has a spear so I didn't ask

A Gondola traffic jam, hope nobody gets road rage or someone's going to drown!

So if you're not thinking about canals when you're in Venice you're thinking about:

Masks or:

Blown Glass.

If you find all of that boring, maybe you're wondering about the Venetian nightlife.

We'll start with a little musical piece.

Then a few more night shots.

I hope you like my version of Venice. I'd like to leave you with one more piece of music. If you've never been to Venice, or never think you'll get to Venice, then this is:

 " Your Song"

I hope anyone who sees this gets a chance to visit Venice.

Garry