Sunday is touristy day in Venice, not just for us but the many thousands of others in this town. Cloudy day and tending to rain, a few showers prompting Penny to buy a new umbrella, she opened it up and was immediately followed by 50 German tourists..... boom boom! It really opened up on the train coming back so pretty good timing.
We decided to take the train into Venice today, it's much easier quicker and less crowded than the bus, from the station it was a very short walk to the Grand Canal. From there we splashed out (boom boom, on fire today) and took a water taxi to San Marco Sq. Had morning dulce overlooking the water and was then offered a free trip to Murano by the city council to see the glass blowing, so just for the experience we went. It was interesting and we watched the glass blower create a prancing horse in 1 minute and 30 seconds, amazing! Of course after the demonstration we were shown the shop, beautiful glass work and we ended up buying a really nice candle stick which is being shipped to Tweed Heads, on the strength of that we got a free ride back.
Then it was tourist time proper. First ascension to the top of the Campanile. We took the lift and not the stairs, not sure the back would not have appreciated that. There was not much of a queue and a smooth ride to the top, it was a bit different at five to four, everybody wanted to get down before the bells rang the hour. Penny made great use of her elbows to make sure we got down together. The view from the top is great, but it would have been better if not for the cloud, but took some decent photographs.
Then it was the Doges Palace, a lavish huge building and took some time to get around, including the largest room in Europe at the time without supporting pillars, the different council of Venice chambers and the prison over the Bridge of Sighs.
There are many masterpieces in the building and it really has to be seen to be believed.
We did get into the Duomo but it closed about two minutes after we got in so that was not a tick.
Yesterday getting the bus back to the hotel was horrendous, the train was easy again, so if your ever in Venice use the train, and no we didn't go in a gondola........
