On Friday morning we woke up to the pleasant bustle of activity on the Grand Canal. Looking out the window we could see lots of people coming and going - those who obviously get up earlier than we do ;-)
Being tourists we did a lot of walking, especially on the first day. We walked from Santa Croce, near the start of the Grand Canal to Piazza San Marco stopping for coffee's and food along the way. We walked around to see the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, which was pretty amazing, and then back to Saint Mark's basilica. I was totally blown away by the ceiling mosaics - the fact that they cover the whole ceiling, the fact that they were done so long ago (from around the 13th century) and that they are still there. Here's Nick on the balcony of the basilica:
Here we are on the Rialto bridge with the Grand Canal behind us:
After all the walking we did on Friday we bought ourselves tickets to use the vaporetto (water bus) and spent a bit of time on the water. We accidently went the long way around to San Marco but we got to see parts of Venice we wouldn't otherwise have seen. Speaking of things we wouldn't otherwise see, I was able to talk Nick into going to the opera that night. We didn't see a whole opera but rather an hour and a half 'best of' Italian opera highlights from Puccini and Verdi. The singers and the small orchestra were dressed in 18th century costume and the interior of the building of the performance had beautiful 17th century ceiling paintings. I really enjoyed it an Nick survived ;-)
On Sunday we squeezed in a few more seriously touristy things - the obligatory gondola ride, a bellini at Harry's bar (where bellini's were invented) and then a 'spritz' in the square - here I am, the unashamed tourist!
So this marks our first trip to Italy this year... if last year was the year of France, I think 2009 is going to be the year of Italy. We're looking forward to it!
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