Italy Post 2: Venice

Venice

We left Milan and boarded a 2 hour train ride to Venice. We arrived in Venice on a rainy Thursday afternoon.  The previous few days had been very rainy so some of the streets and canals in Venice were flooded.  It made navigating interesting and a cool experience.  We walked a few blocks to our hotel and started getting settled in. 

For those of you who don't know, Venice is a city in Northeastern Italy.  It is made up of 118 small islands separated by canals and joined by bridges. It is known for it's unique and beautiful setting, it's architecture, and its artwork.  

Our first night in Venice was very rainy and wet. We found a DELICIOUS place off a small piazza to have dinner and coffee.  After that, we walked around Venice a bit just to explore.  We returned back to our hotel , cold and a little wet, already thinking Venice was beautiful.

Our First Night in Venice was rainy and cold but beautiful. 

Our B&B from the Outside!
(A few days later when the sun decided to come out) 

Cozy and Nice Inside! 

We had breakfast brought to our room every morning! 

Delicious! 

We saw the typical Venetian tourist attractions over the next few days such as Piazza San Marco,  San Marco Basilica, the Doge's palace, the Rialto and Accademia bridges.  We also saw some lesser know attractions such as the Venetian Naval Museum and a huge, beautiful park.  Our favorite times in Venice were just wandering through the different neighborhoods, getting slightly lost, and seeing all that Venice had to offer.  

The Doge's Palace

The Doge's Palace is a palace built in Venetian Gothic style which used to be the home of the Doge of Venice (the supreme authority of Venice). The rooms inside are astoundingly beautiful and numerous.  Each is decorated with such detail it blew us away. In the palace are the rooms that the Doge actually lived in, the institutional chambers including a room for the council, the senate, waiting rooms, courtrooms, etc.  Also inside the palace is the prisons.  It took forever just to simply wander all the rooms in the palace. 

I think my favorite part of the palace was the old and new prisons and the famous "Bridge of Sighs".  For those of you who are unfamiliar with this, the bridge of sighs is a bridge built in 1612 that connected the courtrooms to the prison.  It was named to represent the sighs of the prisoners who passed through to serve their sentence as they looked out the windows one last time at the canals of Venice. 

Inner Courtyard of Doge's Palace

View from the "Bridge of Sighs"

My hubby on his way to "prison".  Bridge of Sighs. 

Front view of Doge's Palace

Saint Mark's Basilica

Next door to the Doge's Palace is the famous St. Marks Basilica.  This is by far Venice's most famous church.  It is decorated in Byzantine style.   I could go on and on about the architecture but since I actually know very little about architecture I'll let you look it up if you want to know more about it.  I was most impressed by the fact that the entire inside of this church is gold mosaics.  It is absolutely amazing.  I can't imagine how long it would take to decorate a building of this size that way.  

Another thing we thought was intriguing about St. Marks is the famous Greek Horses.  The horses of St, Marks were installed on top of the basilica in 1736.   The original 4 horses are now on display inside the basilica where you can watch as they are restored and kept looking nice. Outside there are now 4 replica horses. 

Hubby and I at St. Mark's Basilica

Piazza San Marco

Naval Museum 

One day while we were wondering around Venice we happened upon their naval museum.  It was open for another hour so we decided to head inside and see what it was all about.  The naval museum is owned by the Venetian navy and is in close proximity to the Naval Arsenale.  We only had time to see the main building of this museum which took up 5 floors with 42 rooms.  We saw some pretty unique things inside and learned a lot about Venice's rich naval history.  

So... I took like 2 pictures of the Naval Museum...this is one of them :)

Other adventures

We of course, saw many, many more things in Venice.  We found a favorite spot to sit, people watch, chat with Jay on Skype, and drink cappuccino's.   We ate some amazing food and walked 10 or more miles a day exploring Venice.  We didn't ride a gondola but we did take a ride on a Vapparetto through the Grand Canal.  

Vaparetto Ride

We walked over the Rialto bridge, which is one of the 4 bridges that cross the Grand Canal.  The Rialto bridge is the oldest of the 4.  We shopped at some souvenir shops there and bought a few things to bring home with us.  My favorite souvenir is a necklace with a Murano glass pendant on it.  

Rialto Bridge

Accademia Bridge

I wish I could have blogged while we were in Venice because you would have had much greater details on all we did.  For now, enjoy the little info I've given you and the pictures!  We had a blast and there is no other place in the world quite like Venice.  

San Marco

Venetian Ambulances :)

Yes, this really happens a LOT in Italy!! Love it!! 

I told you I thought Venice was romantic didn't I?......

Grand Canal at Night!!
Buona Notte Venice!



PS.  I am realizing as I do these blogs that James and I both have photos on our phones that I'm not using at all. Some that are far better than the ones I've chosen here so... I may have to do another photo blog post later. For now, stay tuned for when I blog about the ROME portion of our trip.