Venice, Here We Are

After having our coffee & roll; Jim's still Down For the Count; Phil, Laurrie and I head to St Marks. We have a few lingering clouds from yesterday's storm but the day looks like it will be lovely. The predictable crowds of tourist are soon encountered but hey, we're part of that group. After a quick look around we head into the Doge's Palace - my 5^th visit and still I find it interesting. It's remarkable a city could develop the government Venice did without a charter to follow.

Wherever we walk we notice platforms staging piled in the middle of walks and squares. Philip said it's for Aqua Alta – high water. And we could understand as the standing water at St Mark's increased significantly from the time we arrived and left the Doge's Palace. High tide would be at 2:00PM and it was obvious, we'd need to walk on the platforms to avoid getting wet.

Our next stop was the campanile – magnificent views of Venice and the out islands. Strangely enough, not one of the hundreds of canals were visible. They're hidden between the canyons of buildings.

My friend, Georgene from Phoenix, is also visiting Venice. Laurrie and I meet her at 2:00 to take a taxi to Murano and a tour of the glass factory. Philip headed back to the train station to meet Mikki, Morgan and Kilian.

Riding in the Taxi was fun but the tour – not so much. Not much history and most everything overpriced. Laurrie headed back to the mainland to check on Jim while George and I settled down with a nice glass of red wine and waited for Philip and Mikki. Once everyone was gathered we strolled along the canal, gawking at the glass shops before stopping to have a pizza before heading back to the rail station to bid farewell to Mikki and family (Phil & I will see them again in a few days).

Near our hotel, we stop for a glass of wine and run into Laurrie and Jim – who's looking better and is at least up right. I have to say the Sostman's are terrific people to travel with – no matter how bad they felt & nothing worse than being sick when on vacation & a foreign country definitely complicates life – they soldier on; no complaints.

After giving Georgene a quick peek in the Ghetto area (home to large % of the remaining Venetians) we headed for the Rialto and some supper. Then we began the adventure of getting George back to our hotel and us back to the Valporetti, without getting lost. We got Georgene back to the hotel but not without getting lost – both going and coming back. Barely speaking, we staggered back to our dismal little hotel about 10:30, vowing not to leave again – ever!!!