It-Alli-a: "See You On the Lido"

Venice:
Martedi, Febbraio 9-4.7 miles
Mercoledi, Febbraio 10-6 miles
Giovedi, Febbraio 11-5.6 miles
Venerdi, Febbraio 12-9 miles

So, we went to Venice.... When we arrived we all loaded onto a chartered boat to take us to the Lido (a separate island from Venice but still considered part of the city). This boat had around 100 people on it plus all of our luggage (which would have been enough for twice as many people for twice as long if you consider how much the Texas girls brought.....) As we were moseying our way down the Grand Canal, Tony said to his wife Carol "If this thing springs a leak, were done for..." to which Carol responded, "Thanks Tony" with a roll of her eyes. When we got to the Lido, we checked into Hotel Cristallo and headed off in search of some lunch because it was "Panino-O'CLock" as Tony would say. Then, we went back to the main island of Venice for our guided tour.

Here is a bit of everything from the week:

The domes of San Marco's Basillica

Here I am staring down a lion at Piazza San Marco

The Doge's Palace (I think I am going to start calling Tony 'The Doge'. It seems fitting); The palace is very large and you need a good 3 hours to see it all. Laura and I went on Friday but only had an hour to see it. If I ever make it back to Venice this will be the first thing I do.

The courtyard in the Doge's Palace

A narrow passage in the prison of the palace

A typical cell in the prison. One such as this, possibly even this one is where the infamous Cassanova was held (and made his escape from)!

A food display at a restaurant

A canal

Some masks. The long beak kind were worn by doctors. They used to fill them with scents and spices such as juniper and ginger to block the smell of all the dead bodies/victims of the Plague.

Another canal. The pink house on the right was owned by Cassanova's caretaker.

A courtyard. One of these surrounding buildings is where Marco Polo lived. Marco......

Polo.....This is Mauricio. He was our tour guide on Tuesday. He is a very proud Venetian and told us the population is down to only 50,000. (at it's peak the population was around 100,000). I'm pretty sure the whole week, I saw more Americans, let alone all the other tourists than I did Venetians. Along the narrow alleys he kept saying, "Step aside, step aside for the Venetians!"

After our tour Carol shouted all chipper like "See you on the Lidooooo!"

This was dinner Tuesday night. We had Chinese food. Fried noodles...

Sweet and Sour Chicken.....

and....the craziest Fried Ice Cream i've ever had! It was a ball of ice cream with Nutella and dough swirled together completely surrounded by a ball of fried dough.

And then Wednesday came.....
I woke up early to get a hot shower only to find out the Venetians on the Lido don't always believe in hot water. I just couldn't force myself to jump off the Titanic into that shower! (ok, maybe that is a bit harsh, but.....)

And then I look outside my window only to find out it a blizzard! In Venice!

A look at what Venice is like during High Tide (or blizzards). Platform sidewalks are set up all over the city while the ground is flooded.

Snowy gondolas

Snowy gondola with seagull prints

Tony and Carol crossing a bridge.

Carol, "Tony, pay attention so you don't fall!"
Tony, "Take your own advice Carol!"

Carol gets further along and Tony says, "Carol...Carol...CAROL! If you let me fall, I'll never forgive you!"

Prayer candles in one of the churches. Due to the blizzard outside and our lack of preparedness we were FREEZING so we all huddled around the prayer candles (much like hobos) and warmed our faces and hands. (Is that sacrilegious?....)

More snow....

More snow at night in Piazza San Marco

Dinner at Hard Rock Cafe! Ahhhhhhh.....

My BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger. Just what I needed. Don't get me wrong, I love Italian food but sometimes you just need all your food in one course.

Heidi, Laura, and I at Hard Rock

The sun came out on Thursday

I figured I include another old man picture. I haven't put one in in awhile.

Sunshine on a canal!

A look at some chimneys

A Calatrava. One of the 440 bridges in Venice.

Cemetery Island

One of the new burial sites. An entirely hideous and depressing structure (by British architect Chipperfield) if you ask me. It is large and oppressive. The first thought I had was that it reminded me of what a concentration camp would look like. I'm just saying....

The inside isn't much better. There are small, uninviting grass courtyards but no seating. There should always be seating. The graves are all regulated with no room for personal expression of the deceased by family members.

When we walked around the corner and saw this (the guys had been all excited and talked this up so much) Emily says, "This is it? A concrete box!?" to which Tony responded, "I believe they call it minimalism..."

Later, after being here for 45 minutes too long, Tony comes up to us girls and asks, "So tell me, what is it I'm supposed to get, what am I missing here?...." (Who knows Tony, who knows....) His sarcasm was as obvious as I know the look of distaste I had on my face was....

Emily expressing our sentiments....