Roman Holiday: Day Two in Venice

Where were we again? Oh yes, Day two in Venice. Lest we forget, I am still bitter about having missed what would have been day one in Venice which would have made this actually day three in Venice. Alas, one can not fault the weather in New York...

Have you ever been to Venice? It is known or renown, I suppose, for it's remarkable quality of light. I guess that quality can best be described as ethereal. There are also some "classic" sights of Venice. Some, that you just won't see here! For one, the Rialto Bridge. It's like the South of The Border of Venice. Ick. We crossed it, but I refused to take a picture. Instead I got caught up in the whole narrow streets, crumbly buildings, and canal thing. Narrow Venetian street:

I love the bridges over the canals. I just find it amazing that a place so different from my know landscape exists. It's easy to forget the monotony of a subdivision, sameness of every strip mall, and general suburban lifestyle, and get transported into another time and place.

These little water fountains are all over Venice and Rome too. I did see a sign that said the water was "potable," but I'll stick to bottled, thank you! 

The Grand Canal is like the 15/501 of Venice. (Not really).

Palazzos on the Grand Canal:

The Grand Canal from a Vaporetto:

Right around Piazza San Marco there isn't a lot of greenery, but I do love how residents add their own touches of green. 

The "gondola ride" is a big thing in Venice too. I'm not big on the whole tourist aspect of it, but the Gondoliers were pretty cute in their striped shirts. I much more enjoy to compare and contrast the tackiness with which the interiors of the boats are decorated. This one, not too bad:

And here begins my obsession with winged angels. This will become a major theme as we get into Rome later:

Crumbly Building: they just don't do architectural detail like they used to:

Hello Kitty behind bars! Not to worry! There was a store just like this in Rome that I looted for Ava!

The Grand Canal as seen from the Academia Bridge at night:

If I may interject one small tiny complaint here; dinner in Italy does not start until at least 7:30pm, and that's if you are lucky! Some days I didn't get dinner until 9 or 10pm. That's all well and good if you are European, but I have to admit I am a creature of habit and my habit is unfortunately to have dinner at 6pm. I have kids, what can I say? So on any given day, I have walked at least ten miles (no complaints yet) but am getting a bit hungry by, let's say, 5pm or so. All the museums, churches, etc. are closed, so there's nothing to see, but you can't get a bite of dinner until at least 7:30pm! This leaves an awkward two and a half to three hours to kill. Enter Happy Hour. I admit, I like Happy Hour or Two Happy Hours if need be, but I can only drink so much, until I really need something to eat. There, I said it. I started stealing prepackaged toast from our hotel to tide me over until dinner. But, I dipped it in Nutella, so it was ok.

One last shot of The Grand Canal at night and then off to bed. Tomorrow we have a half day in Venice before we attempt to take a train out of Venice to catch up with the Giro 'd Italia!