Life in Sweden: Venice

We are here! After our late night, we decided we would sleep until 9am. Our first tour started at 11:30, so we didn’t have to push ourselves. We woke up to a surprise. We could hear boats. The room we had was canal side. What an amazing view to wake up too. The weather was perfect - bright blue sky, warm sunshine and not a drop of rain to be seen. We had a good breakfast downstairs at the hotel and then set off to try to find the start of our tour. Thankfully, David sense of direction had kicked in overnight and we found our destination with very little difficulty. Venice is such a beautiful city but all the little alley ways and bridges make it a challenge to navigate. We had a wonderful tour guide. She was a native Venician and her love for her city was evident.

The tour covered the major highlights of the city St Mark’s Square and basilica. The basilica was simply amazing. The pictures do not capture the beauty of the basilica. We were not allowed to take pictures inside but they would not have shown what we saw. Ellie’s favorite part of the church was the floor. It was all marble mosaics. She loved looking at the pretty colors and patterns. The ceiling was also amazing. The mosaics were all down on a back ground of gold. They turn the lights on for one hour each day and thankfully we were able to be there during that time frame. The glitter and shine was amazing.

After St. Mark’s Square, we headed off the beaten path to see other parts of the city. Some of the alley ways were so narrow; two people couldn’t stand across them. We were able to see the city hospital and a school. Maro Polo’s family home was also on the tour. At the end of the tour, we had just enough time to grab a quick lunch before heading to our next tour. We stopped at a café. David and Ellie had pizza (a recurring theme of the trip for Ellie). I had the best cannelloni I have ever had. Yummy.

Our boat tour covered the Grande Canal that divides Venice into two sections. It is just amazing to see all the entrances to building from the water. Many building in Venice have two entrances: one from an alley and one from the canal. Ellie can’t quite get her mind around a town without any cars. It has been a source of many questions. But she loves seeing and riding on all the boats. Most of the buildings along the Grande Canal were built when Venice was a huge merchant center. The buildings are large and impressive with lots of decoration. Today, many function as government building or museums. There are still a few that are private and can be rented out for weddings and events. The fee for one of the buildings is 20,000 euros for one evening. We got to go under the Rialto Bridge. It is quite an impressive bridge that also holds 24 shops. After the tour we made a quick stop for Ellie's favorite part of Italy - gelato.

After the tour, we headed back to our room for a quick nap. The events of last night were catching up with us. After a short nap we were back up and off in search of dinner so that we could make the ghost tour. The ghost tour met on top of the Rialto Bridge. It was so neat to wander around Venice at night. The ghost stories were fun to hear and mixed in with the stories were lots of actual facts about Venice.