Venice…more days

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After some wonderful and needed sleep, we were out the door at 9 on day two.  I had booked the Secret Itineraries tour at the Doge’s palace for 9:55.  By now we can traverse Venice pretty easily from our apt to St. Marks Square.  At 9 the city is still quiet.  Shop owners are sweeping and opening, trash collectors are picking up trash,  and the day trippers aren’t here yet.  Most tourists don’t stay on the islands, and cruise ships unload thousands each day…so the mornings and late evenings are wonderful.

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Venice…day 1

 

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We took a train from Innsbruck, Austria to Venice. It was a beautiful and relaxing 4 1/2 hours through the Alps. We arrived in Venice around 6pm Friday. Weaving through alleys to the Frari Church where we were to meet our next proprietor we began our new and vital skill here…dependence on the map. There are no roads, no main walkways. Just alleys. It is a constant weaving and turning, and with tall buildings all around you can never really get your bearings. But then you come to little arched bridges, quiet canals, dark paths, or sudden squares and it is really the charm of the city itself…always being a little lost but never really minding.

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