Venice, Italy Oct 2013 - part one of our vacation

Venice 2013

Hello everyone. Sorry I took so long to get something up for you to see. Going through the 2500+ pictures so soon after getting home was not really that appealing and work has been busy. Also, I wasn't feeling witty. I'm still not, but I thought I could at least get you the Venice pictures... and then maybe every couple of days I'll put up more. 

Yeah? Yeah!

For starters: the flight over there kicked my behind. We took a double connection and went through both Boston and Paris. 

Dear French citizens, 

Charles De Gaulle airport sucks. 

No love, Me.

We were delayed a couple of hours in Paris and finally got in to Venice at I don't have a clue o'clock in the afternoon. I was going on a very few hours of sleep and the vaporetto that was supposed to be "right outside of the airport terminal" was a little bit of a walk away. Not too bad, luckily, and I was thanking the baby Jesus that I packed light and only had one small piece of luggage.

The boat ride in to Venice is:

Absolutely Fabulous!!!

Click on pictures to see the full size. FYI.

Here's a quick shot of me outside our hotel. It was so nice. This place, you guys... Serious luxury and I needed it. Sadly, more than I thought. I believe I was asleep by 5 o'clock and didn't get up until the next morning. Mike may have been mad at me. Ok, he totally was. I snored all night long and ticked him off so much that he pulled all of his bedding off and went to sleep in the gigantic huge tub. Then his foot hit the faucets and he soaked all of his bedding and himself. (I shouldn't laugh, but y'all... it was so funny! He was so mad - and that's not funny... who are we kidding? It totally is.)

Ok... so next morning. We have a most excellent breakfast. Thank you very much Hilton peeps! And wait for the morning rain to rumble by. Luckily there was only light sprinkling and it pretty much died down for rest of the day. Leaving it grey and slightly icky - but not uncomfortable. All our pictures will have the grey sky in Venice and not a lick of beautiful sunshine...

Here's a quick Mike and Denise selfie at the Piazza San Marco. As you can tell, he's over being mad at me. Pretty much. I mean, like I can help my super loud sonic snoring. Sheesh:

Luckily, I had watched a bunch of videos before coming and knew the best way to cheer Mike up; which coincidentally is going to freak out Denise Floyd because she has ornithophobia which is a fear of...

Birds

D1, girl, you're going to want to scroll really fast for this part.

As we get in to the square, I finally pull Mike away from taking pictures of every thing around us and say, "Hey! Remember that video we watched with the people in the square feeding the pigeons? And how they just come right up to everyone?"

And Mike's like, "Oh yeah." And he gets this cheesy smile on his face. Sorta glassy-eyed and little five year old boy combined.

So I tell him to hold his hand out and maybe he can fool the birds and they'll think he has food and come to him.

Which he does:

And they do:

Then a guy throws some seeds or something at Mike and puts a bit in his palm and the birds really come at him:

I know. I know... EWWW!!!!

Look at him, though. LOL. He is in heaven. And has temporarily forgotten that I snore and pissed him off. Bwahahaha. Mad evil plans? Yeah, I haz 'em!!!

A happy Mike...

The pictures would have been better but I was laughing so damn hard at this point that it was hard to keep the camera steady. I mean, look at him. You'd think he just found the secret to life.

Then he's all, "You try it."

And I'm like, "Eww! No. Those things are dirty and gross."

And he's like, "Come oooon." (Seriously, whining a bit: Come aaaawn.)

So, I was like, "OK, Fine. I'll try. But they aren't going to like me."

Birds

part deux

There. Done. A quick picture. Ok, so, let's go find that bridge.

Wait. Just a couple. 

No. Mike. I'm done... Oh and this one. 

That won't leave. 

Ew. OK, go now.

OH!

My!

GAWD!!!!!

GO!!!! EW!!!!! SOMEBODY HELP ME. 

Michael Anthony Stephen QUIT *expletive* laughing at me. Bleep. Bleeping Bleep EWWW!

SERIOUSLY SEND HELP. 

SHUT UP! THERE IS ONE ON MY HEAD!!!!!

Oh, and this little bastard that never left. Still there, eh?
I hope you're seeing this D1. I was covered. In. Birds. *shudders*

I'm done. Now. Here little boy, want some birds? Take mine.

Seriously? 

FINALLY. We get away from the birds and go exploring the tiny streets (which are really walkways. Some no bigger than 3 feet across).

Some Ventian masks. Fun.

Peek a boo.

And these cool steampunk ones.

Just your regular ol' Venetian alley. Gondolas and boats going under bridges right outside peoples' homes.

A shot of Mike and I in front of the 

Rialto Bridge

The oldest bridge crossing over the Great Canal. That bridge in the above picture was built in like 1590. FIFTEEN NINETY y'all. Dang. Before that it was wood and there has been a bridge in that spot since like the 1100s. That's just crazy. At one time, this bridge would have been covered in prostitutes. Those that were not good enough to be called "courtesans". Don't ask me why I have a fascination with Italian hookers. You can take the girl out of Vegas, but you can't take Vegas out of the girl. Hee hee.

A shot of the Canal from on the Rialto Bridge:

And from our lunch table. That yellow boat is an ambulance speeding by and the reason no one is sitting at the table is because every time a boat goes by, the water swells up over the dock and soaks every thing. Which is fun... except in October. In the chilly weather. And rain. 

They had outdoor heaters though. So, we still got to eat outside and we've lived in Wisconsin. We can take the cold. (In small doses and only occasionally.) (Just sayin'.)

Another shot of the Venetian traffic.

A pretty little canal/street with the balconies of private homes.

Mike sitting at the statue of Daniele Manin, the Italian Patriot. He pretty much spent all of his money in support of revolution and then had to flee in his old age to France, broke and alone. Poor dude. No one should have to go to France. Their airport sucks!

Me forcing Mike to take ANOTHER picture of me on ANOTHER bridge while ANOTHER gondola goes by. (I made him stop and do this on a ton of bridges. heh)

This is one of my favorite shots. Just a long view looking down a small canal with a gondola. A bridge. Homes. It's pretty, right?

Then I had to get a picture of Mike. I have no idea how he got over there. 

In St. Mark's square where all those dirty birds live (and oddly they aren't really anywhere else in Venice) there is a lot going on. We went up to the top of the Campanile and got a 360 view of Venice. The Piazza San Marco (aka St. Mark's square) shown below:

Opening up to the Canal and other landmarks.

Mike starting to lose his bird happy because I didn't want to go inside the Doge's Palace because they were doing renovations on the good stuff. 

The Doge's Palace... Seen one, seen 'em all. (snorts)

The statues and bell on top of the clock tower Torre dell'Orologio.

Some of the spires on top of the Basilica.
(Mike took a ton of more pics - but I don't want to tire you out our first post.)

Me in front of some really old iron stairs. (That thankfully didn't work so we had to take the elevator. Know what I'm saying?)

A gondola full of Venetian street performers.

An alley that led to this cute little building:

Some more awesomeness:

Oh, this was cool. If we would have went on the Doge's Palace tour (fine, Mike. I'm sorry. Ugh) we could have seen from the inside:

The Bridge of Sighs

It is named this because it is the last view of Venice that convicts saw as they were led away to prison. 

The Venetian legend says that lovers will be granted eternal love if they kiss on a gondola while under this bridge at sunset. So, you know, a place to avoid then.

Awe, look at this cute little residence. I mean, come on. Right up those stairs. 

That tall building is where we were up and taking the pics from. Right inside of those four openings.

Mike on the dock of the Great Canal. Just outside St. Mark's Square.

Oh, lookie. A cruise ship came by our hotel that night. Mike's camera takes pretty good night pics.

And then this ship came through the canal. I had Mike take the pics so I could show John and Paul. The next morning it was still there with the sails down, but it was so awesome to watch it go through with the sails up. And PS. You can't tell but it was almost as big as the freaking cruise ship.

Not even kidding.

In the morning, we woke up and caught our shuttle across the canal then had to hike it across Venice to the train station to pick up our rental car. And we were off to fair Verona for act II... praying for sunshine.

Sunshine that wouldn't come that day.

To Be Continued…