Venice & Guiddecca

The weather has been very accommodating, cool in the mornings and evenings but very pleasant days. As we were going back to our Rome B&B, it began to rain. In the rain it was very convenient that our subway stop was 20 ft from the B&B doorway. Our afternoon train ride to Venice was a nice chance to relax and rest our feet a bit. The countryside we saw on the trip was very interesting, lots of mountains, some castles, many tunnels and quaint little towns that beg to be explored.

In Venice our B&B was on the island of Guiddecca and was quite nice. Our hostess did not understand much English so when I asked if we could have a toaster for the morning, she made meat and cheese sandwiches for the toaster. So Rich had the toasted sandwiches and I had my gluten free toast. Beside this unexpected addition to Rich's diet, we have spent less on food than we thought we might since we have been so busy seeing the sights.

So the Venice sites we visited on purpose were St. Mark's, the Doge Palace, Rialto Bridge, Accademia Museum, Santa Maria del Giglio, Santa Stefano, Murano, the Jewish Ghetto, an exhibit of over 40 models of Leonardo DaVinci's machines and many other sites we happened on while going somewhere else. (We were never lost, we always knew were were in Venice and as they say, 'you cannot get lost, you are on an island'.)

The Grand Canal really is grand. As you ride along the Grand Canal, you will see manyof the old Venetian palazzos. The water taxis (vaporetti) in Venice are very convenient, affordable and the routes are easily understood. Since our B&B was on a separate island from the major sites, we rode the vaporetti frequently. Besides, it is just fun to take the vaporetti and do a little sight seeing from the water. The views from the canal are different from the views you see when walking around.

We encountered a very rude waiter where we stopped to eat before catching the train out of Venice. He would never stop long enough to listen to my questions or read the card with my diet restrictions and brought soup with noodles. However I finally did get plain chicken broth and Rich ate the soup with noodles. Now we are off to the train and the next phase of our adventure!