Day 3 Venice

We woke up really early Wednesday morning in hopes of getting a run in before all of the tourists boat in but we were still trying to recover from jet lag so we slept in a little.  We still got up earlier enough to get in line to visit St. Mark’s Basilica.  We waited for about 30 minutes and we got to see all of the big cruise ships boat in and drop tourists off. It was sad that we didn’t get to see the complete outside of the Basilica but it was being renovated, which happened a lot on our vacation.  It was interesting walking around the Basilica because you could see how all the floors are warped from all of the flooding.  I didn’t take any pictures on the inside because there were signs all over saying no photos although there were people that were still doing it.  After the Basilica we walked over to the Doge’s Palace.  It was the residence of the supreme authority of Venice and it is also linked to the prison by the Bridge of Sighs.  We got to walk over the Bridge of Sighs and saw what the prisoner’s last views would have been of Venice.  We decided to head back to the Rialto Bridge and have lunch at one of the restaurants along the Grand Canal.  It was interesting getting to see all of the boats bringing things in.  We saw the UPS boat and the DHL boat bringing in boxes of water, food, and various other items.  We spent the rest of the afternoon just getting lost in Venice.  We took plenty of pictures, ate more gelato, got lost several times, shopped around and just enjoyed the city.

St. Mark's Basilica

I could have sat and watched the gondolas all day!

Doge's Palace

Last views of what the prisoners saw of Venice from the Bridge of Sighs.

It was neat watching all of the cruise ships boat in and drop off tons of tourists.

Bridge of Sighs

Rialto Bridge

View from lunch overlooking the Grand Canal.

 

We headed back to the hotel for a little rest once it started raining and after that we went on a private gondola ride of Venice.  I wanted to pick a gondolier who would talk to us and thankfully the guy we got was pretty friendly and spoke pretty good English.  He showed us around the city and told us that every 6 hours the waters change in Venice.  It was really special being able to spend that time with Chris.  I’ll never forget it and I think that was my favorite part of our time in Venice. After our gondola ride we got some dinner and of course had more gelato for dessert!  

Views from our private gondola ride.