Italy-Venice 2006

Italy - Venice

September 2006

Bob and Tania took a few months off of me to enjoy some sights in Europe in the fall of 2006. They met up with 22 other friends from home in Florida on the beautiful island of Rhodes in Greece...and then left there to travel throughout Europe to experience new adventures and to re-live some old ones (for Tania who backpacked here in 1983)...

Bob and Tania traveled without any firm plans or reservations in lodging facilities. As a result sometimes this became a problem...and sometimes it became a wonderful adventure. In this case they found out that the annual Famous "Regatta Storica" was occurring just as their train arrived into the main Venice station. As a result, the Tourist Office was able to obtain a fabulous room with amazing views of the Grand Canal (as you can see). However, the catch was there was no transportation to the hotel so they had to "hoof it" so to speak across many small bridges with luggage to their room at the Rialto Hotel (at the foot of the famous Ponte of that name). The views of the Regatta were as you can see ...amazing!

The races and gondola parades (in costume) lasted for about two hours. It was so fortunate to find this great room and be able to sit in our windows and watch the festivities above the heads of the huge crowds below. Here is the three man race and the appearance of the "Doge" with a salute from all the oarsmen. A picture of their hotel windows from street level. Thank you train station tourist office (they never let them down - no matter where in Europe)!

During their Vaporetto (local water bus) trip they saw the purple glass "balloon puppy" in front of the Peggy Guggenheim museum - it was huge. Another view down the Grand Canal near the Gallerie dell'Accademia (which houses the world's most extraordinary collection of Venetian Art). Ponte dei Sospiri almost hidden behind the bridge with people on in front.

Saint Mark's Square as a result of the Venice Film Festival and the "Regatta Storica" was just filled with people. Bob and Tania were a bit surprised at how crowded everything was. Even the famous pigeons had few available landing sites. They took a Vaporetto (Canal Bus) and toured the Grand Canal areas.

Getting "lost" in Venice is the only way to truly fall in love with it. As a result you never quite know what you will stumble upon. In this case it was a Fedex BSC (Business Service Center complete with Gondola deliveries) and as a lot of you know Bob and Tania are from the Fedex family so this was a fun discovery..."Octopus" Paul Allen's mega-yacht was visiting for the film festival (the largest privately owned yacht in America). A scenic view across the Grand Canal to Santa Maria della Salute a shrine to the Virgin Mary for delivery from a plague that killed 47,000 in the 1600's.

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