Europe Day 17: On to Venice!

We got up and out of town April 30, arriving in Venice mid morning.  The Grand Canal outside the train station is crazy - people and boats everywhere!  No cars though...the narrow streets in Venice don't allow for cars, so transportation is either by foot or by boat.  Which was fine with us - we engaged both methods and enjoyed them immensely.  After finding out hotel and having some lunch, we wandered over to Piazza San Marco. 

We just loved all the little canals...and when the "streets" dead-ended into them!

The Bridge of Sighs, thus named because prisoners crossing from the judicial building over the canal into the prison were fabled to get one last glimpse of the outside world through the window, and sigh.  Unfortunately it's currently surrounded with blue scaffolding while it undergoes reconstruction.

How could you not like gondolas!?

There are several tourist attractions on the Piazza, which makes it a hopping place to be!

One of the main features of Piazza San Marco is St. Mark's Basilica.

St. Mark's Basilica was fantastic.  Again, no pictures allowed inside, but the ceiling mosaics and floor tile-work was incredible.  So detailed...and the outside was pretty neat too!

Next up was the correr Museum, also in Piazza San Marco.  We took a few pictures before realizing we weren't supposed to...

Bryan liked the Venice lion...

...I liked growling back at the lion.

Part of the armory

We then back-tracked slightly toward our hotel to check out the Church of San Zaccaria.  It was interesting because most of its "decoration" was in the form of paintings and murals all over the walls, not mosaics or stained glass like many European churches.

Next we engaged in one of Venice's finest activites - wandering the streets!  We ended up at the Rialto Bridge and Market area, which had lots of souvenir stalls and interesting things to look at.  We found a painting that we liked, so we decided to try our luck again and hold on to it this time!

Views of the Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge

We found an outdoor cafe for dinner, then took "the long" (aka interesting, exploratory) way home, picking up a few souvenirs along the way.  A beautiful day in a beautiful city...the atmosphere of Venice is fabulous, and you can't help but feel happy as you wind your way through narrow streets and over canals, all bursting with charm!