First day in Venice

City on Water: Venezia is pretty amazing. Contrary to what I had believed, Venice is not a city with canals instead of roads. It is actually a city built on many little islands that are connected by bridges. However, some of the rivers have a title with 'canal' in it. (Something we learned on our second day in Venice is that the islands, from above, make the shape of a fish! Seriously!!! So, FYI, I sometimes refer to where we are in relation to the fish-shape of Venice.)















Going down the Grand Canal is cool because a lot of the buildings front doors are right on the water! Grandpa said that the first floor (zero floor is what they call it) of most buildings are actually abandoned because of flood damage.




















This building is one of my favorites because of the beautiful red coloring. Next to all the white and grey buildings, it just draws the eye.















Venice has beautiful bridges.

































You know those classic pictures of the guy in the striped shirt rowing people around Venezia? I actually saw them!!




















The boats they use are called Gondola's. These boats are very intricate and rich looking. Grandma said that last time she checked it cost 60 Euro (around $80) to ride in one, and who knows if it's gone up since then? So of course we didn't ride in one. They're everywhere!















All right. Remember when I said that a city here can't be a major city without a pretty fountain? Well, there's another requirement in addition to that, perhaps even more important. The city must have a major dome. They are so big and beautifully made, and they were all built 600 or more years ago! This dome was built in thanksgiving for the city's deliverance from the plague.





















Next to the dome was a building with this statue on it. I don't know what it is, but I like it.




















These pictures are from San Marco Square. (NOTE: third requirement for major cities: famous square. No, not the shape!) One of the buildings was made out of brick and, oh my! The diamond pattern was so precise!
















































I got a picture of one of these in Siena, but I lost it with the memory stick crash. This one is prettier anyway. It's a 24 hour clock! I don't know what all the animals are, maybe constellations or something, but it's really beautiful.




















This is a picture of one of the more distant islands in Venezia. The entire island is the city cemetery. Cool, huh?















Here's me and grandma on one of the traghetta's. That's like a bus, but it's a boat. See the guy in the background? He cracks me up!















Okay, this is cool. This is the view from our hotel window. It's someone's garden of sorts, but look at the stone path. The stones are feet! How freaking cool!!




























We ate dinner at Alla Stregga, a pizza restaurant that our host recommended. They have an open courtyard you can eat in where the 'ceiling' is a huge grapevine. It's really pretty.


























Unfortunately, someone was having a party there, so little kids were running and screaming...it was super loud. Oh well.
Here's something I never told you. In Italy when you order your own pizza, they don't give you one of those 8 inch or 10 inch pizzas. They give you a while pizza! Like, a Domino's medium size pizza! All to yourself! However, the pizza dough is as thin as a tortilla. So it's ok. Tonight was the first night I have ordered a pizza and I didn't know if I could finish it. Bah! After Primo and Paulo's Pizza Party, this was nuthin'!

After dinner we walked around trying to find a Gelateria, but they were all closed already. It was past ten, so I suppose that's okay. But it's kinda weird for Italy. When we left the restaurant at ten, some people were just sitting down to eat. Anyhoo, there's my first day in Venezia: Venice.