Italy - Day 1

This morning was amazing - probably a sure sign of a pretty amazing day to follow!  The sunrise was  so beautiful that I forgot to even take a picture.  The clouds like snow across the sky and the sun peeking its rays up from underneath was captivating.  We flew over France, Germany and Switzerland before landing in Italy.  The mountains were amazing and the landscape of Italy was truly a patchwork of color!  We saw a few planes come really near our plane so we must of been over a major airport.  At any rate we made it!

Venice is so surreal!  It's like something you can't explain to someone and even if you've seen pictures it's just not the same.  Here are a few sights we took in today!

The Vaporetto taxied us in to Venice.

 We ate lunch at Osteria Ae Sconte Restaurant and enjoyed gnochetti di patate

 con crema di formaggi & walnuts and of course, vino casa (Toza).  The gnochetti reminded me of vey cheesy mac & cheese!  Later we visited St. Mark's Basilica and the Doge's Palace.  Follow the link to Doge's Palace for some beautiful images.

The market at San Marco was full of people

and we felt right at home in the heat and humidity!

 The famous Bridge of Sighs is located here.  Stories vary slightly on this but overall it represents the sadness of those being led away to prison who can no longer enjoy the beauty of Venice.  The prison was like a maze with a lot of dark block cells. 

This is the very popular Rialto Bridge.  We found a little restaurant near here 

on the Grand Canal called Ristorante Omnibus. 

I enjoyed fresh peach juice.  Unfortunately, after not sleeping for almost 24 hours

I have forgotten what I ate but I think this is where I tried a pesto pasta.

The streets in Venice are narrow and lined with merchants.

Our favorite already is the gelato. 

I do remember I had Limone gelato! 

Kenny said his (a caramel flavor) was probably the best he had anywhere in Italy.

On the way back to Hotel Canaletto we ran into the stewardesses from the plane. 

After a little shopping for Murano glass, it was lights out for us!