Venice

Thursday the 17th we went to Venice. After a big debate with himself, Dad decided to drive. He had noted from the parking websites that you sometimes have to leave the keys in the car so the owners of the garage can move your car to make more space, but Dad found a garage that we didn't have to do that. The city of Venice is on an island and no cars are allowed, so as soon as we got off the bridge into the city, we literally drove right into a parking garage. After parking we walked to a 'People Mover' and completed our journey into Venice. A 'People Mover' is simply a monorail type train.

When we got off the train we headed to a boat to get to St. Mark's Square. The boat was crowded with people. In the middle of the ride Betsy and I listened to a Rick Steve's audio guide until we got to the Square. At the Square boatstop we got off the boat, and walked to it. At the Square we listened to another audio guide.

The lion is the symbol of Venice, and I could see 4 lions when I stood in the middle of the Square, looking at the cathedral in front. There are also lots of pigeons in the Square and seagulls too, the seagulls act like they will eat all the pigeons, by diving into the flocks with there beaks. I saw one pigeon ripped open, bleeding, and dead. We left the Square to go to a bridge that the audio guide talked about, we stood on the bridge looking down a canal leading into the city. The bridge was a covered bridge higher up then our bridge. The covered bridge led between a palace and a prison the only difference between the two was the barred windows on the prison side.

We continued on, looking for something to eat. Finally after taking a back road we found a place to get sandwiches and eat there. Then we went to the cathedral at the front of St. Marks Square, and looked around, we also listened to more of the audio guide. Then we wandered in the back alleys. Once we came to a place where I could not stretch my arms out to full length in the path. Then we took a Gondola ride, because Dad bargained for a better price. I liked the ride, such narrow canals but we never scratched the boat on the houses or corners. After the ride we wandered more, and finally came to the People Mover and went home.