Venice, Italy

We took a water taxi from the dock to our hotel.

 

Knowing that Venice is all built on the water doesn’t prepare you for actually seeing it.

All of the buildings that face the water have docks at their doors.

Our hotel was right across the street from the train station which is the one story white building on the left.

This is our hotel right on the grand canal with tables and chairs outside for sipping wine and people watching.

Our room was small but beautifully decorated with Murano glass chandeliers.

After we unpacked we ate lunch at a snack bar and pizzeria down the street.

Here we are getting ready to enjoy our wine and pizza.

 

After lunch we took a boat over to Murano Island and saw more of Venice on the way.  Unfortunately the graffiti artists have found a canvas in Venice as well as Rome.

There are lots of bell towers in Venice.

When we arrived on Murano we were greeted by a guide from the Signoretti Glass Factory.  This signage was a beautiful mosaic.

We were shown the process of blowing the glass and curing the pieces before being taken to the show rooms.

It was more like a museum as nothing had a price on it but it was all for sale for a very expensive price.

We rode a water bus back from Murano to St. Mark's Square (Piazza San Marco).  As we walked towards St. Mark’s Square Wayne got a good picture of the Bridge of Sighs.

St. Mark’s Square was very busy.  The architecture was beautiful.

 

On the left side of the square was an outdoor restaurant with this pretty old street lamp.

Here I am in front of Doge's Palace (Palazzo Ducale).

Further down the street there were gondolas everywhere.

We took the water bus back to the hotel passing this beautiful church

and the Rialto Bridge.

     We had a very busy first day in Venice so we enjoyed a glass of wine and watched the people go by before we went to dinner.