Venice......Day 1

How do you say, "Bird flu in Italian?"

Cafe Florian...check out the ice cafe!

Ah, a glass of vino and lunch in Murano.....

A special tour of the art of glass blowing.

View of Venice from the Doge Palace.

One of four hundred bridges!

This is the view from our window.

First gondola we saw as we came into Venice.

View of St. Marks from the water.

Saturday, May 13th
We will update this blog and pictures throughout the day when we need to stop and rest. Last night as we were making our way through the alleyways, our cell phone rang. That scared us. As it turns out, Harold, Ken's Dad, fell and ripped some stitches from his eye from a previous eye surgery. No broken bones, so that is good but there is concern for his vision one eye. After several phone calls, we were told to continue with our vacation.

Sally's lesson for today.........Never drink a cappuccino at 9PM, as it makes you pay until 3AM. Of course it was a 7AM wakeup call because our fist Italian breakfast was calling us. So after meats, cheeses, cake, sweet croissants, and fruit for good measure, we are ready to hit the streets. Is Venice ready for us?

Sondra, if you would have kept up on your according lessons, you could be making some money here. Around every corner you hear a different musician. Last night we heard an accordian, glasses, and a violin, and an opera singer. Sally

Today's goals were to buy train tickets to Florence on Monday, and see St. Mark's Bascillica. We got the tickets, but the line to get into St. Mark's were hours long, so we took a vaparetto to Murano to see a glass blowing demonstration. I wanted to see the masters make Millifiore glass, but they don't do that on weekends. We saw them make a glass vase and a horse , and had a nice young man gave us a tour of their art gallery rather than their commercial products. when wine glasses are looking like bargain, it's time to leave!

Next, we went to the Doge Palace which was the most important half acre in Europe for nearly 400 years. The doge (duke) was elected to his position for life, and lived in this palace never leaving without an exectutive. It was the seat of government for Venice. The palace housed the apartment for the doge and the senate that was elected. It was enormous and has many painting and sculptures. two places of special interest were the armory and the c. In the armory we say armor from the 1200's and some some of the first guns in Italy. The swords were huge! Some swords had over five foot blades. The doge could secretly sentence, prison, torture, his opponents all in the confines of his palace. After the prisoners were tried, they would exit from the palace over the Bridge of Sighs. It is said that the prisoners would take one last look at Venice while walking over this enclosed bridge, and then sigh has they were led to prison. Ken

Today, I needed to buy some sunglasses because the weather is so beautiful. (mid 70's) Ken tried to to convince me to buy sone that I can only describe as what he thought were sexy. But I didn't agree. He tried to convince me that they made me look younger and my butf smaller. I bought that line once, but not twice! At the Doge today I dragged my sausage roll filled butt (srfb) up about a 100 stairs when a worker said, "Ascensore?" I knew that word immediately! (elevator) It made the rest of the tour easier, it was a challenge going up and down the stairs and hallways of the Bridge of Sighs. It was a long day of walking going up and down many bridges.

We rewarded ourselves by stopping at the Cafe Florian, the first place to serve coffee in Europe. It has been around since 1720. If it was good enough for Woody Allen, Casnova, or Charles Dickens, it was good enough for us. It was however very expensive, but well worth the experience. An orchestra played while I drank my fifteen dollar iced cafe (it had gelato and heavy whipped cream in it). This cafe was right on the Piazza San Marco.

People either love or hate Venice. We have felt both ways. It's like being a parent. Just when you are ready to pull your hair out in frustration, along comes incredible moving experiences that makes you say "that's what I love about this".

I have seen a few ugly Americans today, and have to admit that I had to restrain myself a couple of times from being one also..........Many of the Venetians are tired of the incredible number of tourists and get pretty crabby. Until later, you are all in my thoughts, Sally