Venice

We took a "water bus" from the train station on our way to the B&B.

We had to carry our bags up three flights of stairs after dragging them through half of Venice. It was worth it, though.

Our room overlooked a canal. In the morning, we could hear the motorboats going up and down, delivering goods.

Another view down the canal.

The one thing that Amalia missed while we were in Venice was vegetation. She wanted to climb trees and walk barefoot in the grass. Most of the greenspace in Venice was behind walls.

Aled and Amalia inspecting the boats.

Aled and Amalia continue to inspect the boats.

Restaurants along the Piazza hired bands to play classical music. One of the bands started up a Strauss waltz, so Rachel and I (naturally) started dancing. Aled snapped the picture.

The piazzas in Venice all have wells, which have been capped (for safety reasons, I assume).

We decided to go ahead and indulge ourselves. It was worth it.

We wanted to take our gondola ride at dusk, which turned out to the best time. The canals were quieter, and all of the buildings were lit up from inside.

He spoke several languages, told us stories, and was able to answer all sorts of questions. He even sang to us. We should have asked for his name.

It was foggy in the mornings, which highlighted the view across the rooftops.

A church spire in the distance, through the fog.

Along the canal, with windowbox.

Aled and I were a bit nervous about Amalia's decision to sit on the window ledge.

Hold on tightly!

Sunday morning. We decided to visit the Jewish Ghetto and tour the synagogs. We took the water bus in the fog.

The word "ghetto" is a corruption of the Italian word "getto", which is pronounced with a soft 'g' ("jetto") and means "foundry".

On the right-hand side you can see a sukkah.

On Sunday, the line to get into the museum was quite long. The building to the left of the museum entrance housed a synagog, which can be identified from the outside by the line of five windows on the fourth floor.

Rachel liked this shot of dishes drying on the windowsill. The spikes on top of the streetlamp are to prevent pigeons from landing (and pooping on the passers-by).

A sign of the times? We rarely saw police outside of the ghetto. Within the getto, they were unobtrusive, but definitely present.

The oldest ghetto was built on the sight of what had been the "new foundry", so it is called "Gheto Novo" (New Ghetto). The ghetto was expanded twice, and eventually incorporated the old foundry...so the old ghetto is newer than the new ghetto.

One of the walled islands we saw from the water bus.

On our way to the cruise ship, we stopped in this Piazza for a moment to rest and be rained upon.

Identical sets of doors, but one leads to a stairway over the canal and the other leads to wet socks.

We're all grumpy because Rachel wanted us to stop in the rain and have our pictures taken.

Our first view of the ship.
(Yes, that's a waterslide at the top.)

A very nice cabin...

...with a great view.

A luxurious bathroom...

...though the shower had a habit of spraying all over the floor.

The interior.

View over Venice from the deck of the ship.

The sun was setting through clouds and rain.

Chris, Aled, & Amalia on deck.

Closeup.

I think half of the people on the ship were trying to get a picture of this rainbow...with varying results.

Rainbow, Rachel, Aled, & Amalia

Closeup of Rachel, Aled, & Amalia

Yet another attempt at capturing a rainbow.

Pisa has competition.