Venice (aka Venezia) Trip # 1

Writing about Venice (known to the Italians as Venezia) has been one of those things I've put off.  How can one truly writing about Venice in just a few sentences?  It's simply impossible because there is too much to say in just a few words.  We live very close to Venice, in fact, if we were to drive there, it would take us only about 40 minutes.  We never drive, however; our giant American car is simply just too big. Instead, we always take the train. Coming out of the train station onto the Grand Canal is an awesome experience.  There are obviously no roads or cars in Venice proper--its just a tiny serious of complicated canals.  Even the police cars, ambulances, and firetrucks are boats.  I've seen a UPS boat a couple of times as well.  We've been to Venice close to a dozen times now.  When family and friends come, it's always a place that people want to see, so my pictures are from several different trips. I'll highlights some great ones, as well as some important sights from Venice.

On our first trip to Venice, just Steve and I took Delilah.  Steve took the day off and we took the train in.  We spent the day walking around and we got a great (but super expensive) lunch on the Grand Canal.  We let Delilah play on the playground close to the train station and then we hopped back on the train and were home in time to meet the school bus.  We never made it to San Marcos Square but for our first rip, it was a good one.

Hundreds of bikes parked at the train station in Vicenza.

This is what you first see when you walk out of the train station in Venice. It's the Grand Canal and the sight of it for the first time was amazing!

Steve and I eating lunch on the Grand Canal.  Delilah sat under the table and fed bread to the seagulls and birds the entire time.  We realized after we drank it that our wine was 14.5 % alcohol.

View from our table of the Grand Canal.

I took this picture of our restaurant while standing on a bridge overlooking the GC.  There's a vaporetti (water bus) in the picture too. 

 Looking down one of the smaller canals.

 Expensive private boats parked outside their houses.

Reminded me of my Godfather, Walter Sink (aka Killer) 

 Funny sign pointing the direction to San Marcos and the Rialto Bridge (it points in both directions).

 My mother loved these shoes.

 Awesome shot down the Grand Canal.

Scary Italian men walked into my shot of the church.

Delilah playing on the playground.