Day One
Venice! Amazing! Beautiful!
Unique! What words can I use to describe
the scene that welcomed us? I felt like
I had been dropped into a fantasy Candy Shoppe.
Pinch me. Was I really there?
From the moment we left the coach
which took us from the Treviso Airport to the station in Venice our senses were
bombarded. We saw a candy coloured backdrop for the grand architectural styles of both the new and old. Hotels, the Palace, bridges we've all seen in Hollywood films, private homes, Museums and Cafés along the Grand Canal kept our eyes scanning the scene as fast as we could so as not to miss a thing. It was amazing to see the many Water taxis (the local 'bus' service) and Cargo taxis loaded with everything from fruit and vegetables to home and office furniture and even construction equipment. We saw private tour taxis and other commercial boats of varying sizes each knowing their place and the protocol. Did I mention the shiny black and gold Gondolas, some with lavish velvet brocade upholstery? As far as the eye could see there was a rainbow of colours of the hordes of people, both locals and tourists walking, sitting, or enjoying a cappuccino or a glass of wine under an umbrella at one Café or another. Flowers and Café umbrellas, fancy wrought iron balconies with pots of geraniums, Gondoliers with their red or black and white striped tops, black narrow pant with a slightly flared bottom and that so familiar straw hat with a wide ribbon of red or black. It was too much for the eye to process. I took 366 photos including some video in the 2 days we were in Venice and I know I just scratched the surface. It would take pages to describe all the sights. Here, the phrase a picture says a thousand words, couldn't be truer.
Our trip down the Canal to our hotel
on the Lido was brimming with new sights at every turn. Our hotel was wonderful and included a
breakfast the next morning. Our room had the traditional slim double doors out
to our little balcony. You can visualize
the ones I mean. We've seen it in the
movies and in coffee commercials! So Italian. So romantic.
Pinch me again!
We wondered the narrow lanes and found
something new and exciting at each turn in terms of texture, colour, sun lit
brick, tiled roofs, shuttered windows, piazzas used from antiquity and all
things imagined you'd see in Venice and more.
We spent a little time window
shopping and browsing the souvenir shops.
Venice Masks of every description, colour, size and price, exotic boutiques
with designer fashions and a price to match, leather handbags made in Italy,
jewellery shops, shoes, and so much more. 
Mike and I visited the Ducal Palace
while my cousin Charles and Marlene scouted out a shop they wanted to find as
they had already been through the Palace on a previous tour. The Palace was the seat of Government and the
residence of the doges, built between 1309 -1442. The façade is white and red marble and the
arches - well the arches, were supported by columns with carvings extraordinaire. The 14th
and 15th century art work on the
ceilings and walls would take you months to examine thoroughly, the rooms of armory
showed such craftsmanship and much needed physical strength to bear the arms. The inner court with the floor tiles and mosaics,
arches, balconies and statuary was a marvel in itself. My
only disappointment was that my admission ticket for the Palace did not include
the Manet Exhibition which I was anticipating viewing. 
After joining my cousin and his wife
and a bit more browsing it was getting late and time for another meal. Fixed menu it is, and we found a small
restaurant to our liking. Not sure just
what influenced what, the City, the company or the delight of being in a dream
world, but spaghetti in Venice! - the
Chef must have added a bit of magic. Our trip back to our hotel via the water
taxi now gave us a view of the Grand Canal by night with lights buildings and on
the water front and side canals giving us new visual sensations. Spectacular.
Day 2 began with an expanded
Continental Breakfast which set us off running.
Water taxi on the Grand Canal, stopped along the way down new narrow streets,
all pedestrians only, across several bridges over the smaller side canals to
the Rialto and the Market with an
abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables, butchers, seafood and fish, lots of
fish...and musicians playing while you select just the right octopus for
dinner. Meandering down lanes to more souvenir
shops while making our way back by water taxi to the Bus station to pick up our
coach for our return to Treviso Airport.
We had a quick Panini sitting in a garden and then my only chance to do
some sketching. Oh, why was that handmade
Geppetto marionette €270,00? I had to
leave him behind, but I'm still thinking about him.
bombarded. We saw a candy coloured backdrop for the grand architectural styles of both the new and old. Hotels, the Palace, bridges we've all seen in Hollywood films, private homes, Museums and Cafés along the Grand Canal kept our eyes scanning the scene as fast as we could so as not to miss a thing. It was amazing to see the many Water taxis (the local 'bus' service) and Cargo taxis loaded with everything from fruit and vegetables to home and office furniture and even construction equipment. We saw private tour taxis and other commercial boats of varying sizes each knowing their place and the protocol. Did I mention the shiny black and gold Gondolas, some with lavish velvet brocade upholstery? As far as the eye could see there was a rainbow of colours of the hordes of people, both locals and tourists walking, sitting, or enjoying a cappuccino or a glass of wine under an umbrella at one Café or another. Flowers and Café umbrellas, fancy wrought iron balconies with pots of geraniums, Gondoliers with their red or black and white striped tops, black narrow pant with a slightly flared bottom and that so familiar straw hat with a wide ribbon of red or black. It was too much for the eye to process. I took 366 photos including some video in the 2 days we were in Venice and I know I just scratched the surface. It would take pages to describe all the sights. Here, the phrase a picture says a thousand words, couldn't be truer.
Our trip down the Canal to our hotel
on the Lido was brimming with new sights at every turn. Our hotel was wonderful and included a
breakfast the next morning. Our room had the traditional slim double doors out
to our little balcony. You can visualize
the ones I mean. We've seen it in the
movies and in coffee commercials! So Italian. So romantic.
Pinch me again!
We wondered the narrow lanes and found
something new and exciting at each turn in terms of texture, colour, sun lit
brick, tiled roofs, shuttered windows, piazzas used from antiquity and all
things imagined you'd see in Venice and more.
We spent a little time window
shopping and browsing the souvenir shops.
Venice Masks of every description, colour, size and price, exotic boutiques
with designer fashions and a price to match, leather handbags made in Italy,
jewellery shops, shoes, and so much more.
We found a little Café on a side
street called the Marco Polo and had amazing pizzas. So many toppings to choose from, some not so
usual for us Canadians like a seafood pizza with octopus and mussels, prawns, hard boiled
eggs and peas, along with prosciutto, Parma ham, salami, and hot pepperoni. Individual Pizzas are bigger than a large
dinner plate, so Mike and I shared a "Pit-tza" Diavalo, with some very
spicy pepperoni. Perfecto.
After settling into our Hotel Venezia
2000 on the Lido, we hoped back on the Water Taxi to the Piazza San Marco and
took in the wonder of that, seeing the clock tower and the façade of the
Basilica and the magnificent tiled courtyard.
Mike and I visited the Ducal Palace
while my cousin Charles and Marlene scouted out a shop they wanted to find as
they had already been through the Palace on a previous tour. The Palace was the seat of Government and the
residence of the doges, built between 1309 -1442. The façade is white and red marble and the
arches - well the arches, were supported by columns with carvings extraordinaire. The 14th
and 15th century art work on the
ceilings and walls would take you months to examine thoroughly, the rooms of armory
showed such craftsmanship and much needed physical strength to bear the arms. The inner court with the floor tiles and mosaics,
arches, balconies and statuary was a marvel in itself. My
only disappointment was that my admission ticket for the Palace did not include
the Manet Exhibition which I was anticipating viewing. 
After joining my cousin and his wife
and a bit more browsing it was getting late and time for another meal. Fixed menu it is, and we found a small
restaurant to our liking. Not sure just
what influenced what, the City, the company or the delight of being in a dream
world, but spaghetti in Venice! - the
Chef must have added a bit of magic. Our trip back to our hotel via the water
taxi now gave us a view of the Grand Canal by night with lights buildings and on
the water front and side canals giving us new visual sensations. Spectacular.
Day 2 began with an expanded
Continental Breakfast which set us off running.
Water taxi on the Grand Canal, stopped along the way down new narrow streets,
all pedestrians only, across several bridges over the smaller side canals to
the Rialto and the Market with an
abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables, butchers, seafood and fish, lots of
fish...and musicians playing while you select just the right octopus for
dinner. Meandering down lanes to more souvenir
shops while making our way back by water taxi to the Bus station to pick up our
coach for our return to Treviso Airport.
We had a quick Panini sitting in a garden and then my only chance to do
some sketching. Oh, why was that handmade
Geppetto marionette €270,00? I had to
leave him behind, but I'm still thinking about him.
All in all, a most wonderful and
amazing hop to Venice. Did I just say
'hop to Venice? Pinch me.
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