Our trip to Italy was outstanding.  Mary said she did not think words could describe how much she enjoyed the trip.  Just a slight glitch when we arrived at Houston Intercontinental Airport to check in.  Seems there was an air traffic controllers strike in Italy and the flight from Paris to Venice had been cancelled.  Now I've learned that transportation strikes in Europe are common.  We arrived in Paris at 8:30am and the attendant at the ticket counter was able to get us on a 8:30pm flight to Venice.  That put us arriving in Venice 12 hours later than initially scheduled.  So we grabbed a train out of the airport and went in to see the Eiffel Tower, walked around Paris and ate dinner before returning to the airport.  We made it to our hotel in Venice at midnight and then decided to go walk the streets of Venice.  We finally got to bed after 1am and did not wake up until 1pm.  When we woke up I kept telling Mary there was something wrong with the clock because there was no way we slept for 12 hours, but apparently we did.  I guess we needed it.  

We hit the streets walking the next day and was amazed at how easy it was to walk from one side of Venice to the other.  It's not a very large island.  I had read several articles that said to go get lost in the streets of Venice.  That was really good advice.  Every small street and alley leads to something different around the next corner.  Most will come to a square of varying sizes with a church in the square.  There are more churches in  Italy than you can count.  If you like looking in old churches then this is the trip for you!

Before I get to the photos let me just add that we booked this trip through Classic Vacations and it was the best decision I could have made.  For a first time traveler to Europe I was not sure about the transportation to get from the airport or train and then to my next destination.  We arrived 12 hours late to Venice and there was a person at the airport with a sign and my name on it.  He took our luggage and drove us to our hotel.  When it was time to leave that hotel there was someone in the lobby waiting to take our luggage and drive us to the train station.  We never had a problem and if anything changed I would call the Classic Vacation concierge with the issue and they would figure it out.  Classic Vacations also put together an itinerary that was incredible.  I was initially trying to fly in and out of Rome, which is doable but I was having lengthy layover issues.  Their itinerary flew us to Venice (which I would have not thought about doing) and then had us working our way down through Italy, ending in Sorrento, and flying out of Naples.  And NO I do not own stock in Classic Vacations - but I do have a contact if you are interested.

Here are a few photos of what I think of when you say Venice:

Venice-2 Venice-4 Venice-6 The photo below is not from me drinking too much vino!  Several buildings were leaning in Venice, so we did not have to make the trip to Pisa to see a leaning building.

Venice-9

All of these photos were taken at St. Mark's Square:
Venice-10 Venice-11 Venice-14 Venice-17 Venice-41 Venice-40

Here are some of the photos we took at night:

Venice-25 Venice-26 Venice-27 Venice-28

The photos below were taken inside the Doge's Palace which sits next to St. Mark's Basilica:

Venice-52 Venice-57 Venice-58 Venice-64 The room below was massive.  The photo does not do justice to the size and scope of this room.
Venice-67 Mary's Croatian boyfriend.  We sat inside the room above and talked to this man for at least an hour.  He made me realize that many Europeans still look to the United States to maintain peace and stability.  He said "You Americans always come up with the answer to the problem".  Tears came to his eyes when he started talking about the secret police in Yugoslavia taking his parents when he was a teenager.   Venice-68

No trip to Venice would be complete without a Gondola ride.  The best way to relax and see the sights.   Venice-34 Venice-38 Venice-33

The Rialto Bridge:

Venice-35

As you can tell these are not all of the photos from our trip to Italy.  I decided to just work my way through the photos and post them as I finish processing them.  So I still have Florence, Tuscany, Rome, and Sorrento to finish.  Just not enough hours in the day.  Click on the link below to see all of the photos from Venice.  From a photography point of view I was a little disappointed that almost all of the major historical landmarks were under renovation.  There were several sights that were somewhere between difficult to impossible to get a photo without scaffolding or cranes somewhere in the picture.  I had been told how wonderful the Trevi fountain was in Rome, but it was under renovation and there was scaffolding all around it with no water. I guess we will just have to go back and take those photos another time!  Tough job but someone has to do it.  

If you like the blog or any of the photos please "Like" and "Share" on Facebook.  It helps me boost my ratings for my web site.

Sincerely,

Kelly

Link to all of the Venice photos:

http://www.reeds-photography.com/venice