Tourist Mecca

5/11

I think Venice might have more tourists them Siem Reap. Vencitians are few and far between and the ones that are here work in tourism.
After an A+ breakfast at the hotel we headed to the islands where we opted for a 24 hour vaporetto pass (water bus). For 20€ you can ride as much as you want. We had an audio tour that took us from the train station to St. Marks Square, perfect! From there we toured St. Marks basilica, St. Mark's museum and Doge's Palace before taking a break. I remained positive and try to seem interested but touring museums with Michael is taxing, he needs to look at everything. Personally I'll live a happy life without seeing the wallpaper that they think was on the Doge's walls in the 1500's. We did run into an older couple from NY who were high rollers. It was entertaining to hear their impressions of Rick Steve's book (they think he's cheap, ha ha we think he's expensive) and Venice in general. Just goes to show you can vacation with a wide range of funds.
We went in search of gelato and passed Frari Church which was on our tour list and it was open even though it was long past it's operating hours, bonus! After that we decided dinner might be a better pick, finding a place that didn't charge a service charge and cover charge wasn't easy but we finally settled on a place before Michael died of starvation.
Since it doesn't get dark until 2100 we decided to take the vaporetta to the end of the line and then back towards the train so that we could take in Venice with it's glowing lights and famous canals. We opted to skip the touristy $115, 40 minute gondola rides. I know it's what everyone thinks of when they think of Venice but when you're actually here seeing it, it's not so romantic being on a canal in gondola traffic with 100s of tourists on bridges gawking, yelling and taking pictures of you, plus $115 is sometimes what we spend in an entire day. There were a few ginormous yachts on the water that were amazing but I wonder why someone would need something so big? We had yet to meet our 2 a day gelato requirement so we got off at a stop walked to St. Marks Square, caught some music, grabbed a gelato and headed back to the vaporetto, then took a quick train and ended at our posh hotel at 2330, another late night.

Pics:
- St. Marks Square
- us on the roof of St. Marks
- these people spent a fortune on a gondola ride with musicians but we all to benefit from it!
- we are on the Sighs bridge on our way to the prison
- after a gelato incident I had to rinse off in the canal :-)