We joined mom and dad on a trip to Venice during our weekend off in October. We drove to Frankfurt and flew from there.
We had a wonderful time, the weather was perfect and the sights were incredible. Venice is truly a place like none other we have ever seen. One of my favorite places.

















































































On our first day there we were told about a pass that would cover all our bus and ferry transportation costs for the 3 days that we were there. It was great because it gave us a chance to explore the other islands which are all close to Venice.

One of the places we visited was an island called Murano.

This place is famous for their glass blowing. We got a tour of one of the factories. The business is handed down from generation to generation. The guy sitting in the background was the master glass blower and the other 2 are aprrenticing. As we toured through the sales area afterward we discovered the extremely high prices of this art. There were items worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Made us want to be very careful not to bump into anything!

One of our favorite islands was that of Burano.

This island is famous for their colorful buildings but more so for their beautiful hand made lace. This is an artwork that is extremely difficult and is a dying art as many of the young people have no interest in continuing it. You'll see old ladies sitting in their stores working on intricate patterns.
It was said that the houses were painted these bright colors so that when the husbands went off fishing they would see their home as they returned to the island.















The island of Lido...

This is the island with the longest stretch of beach - 12 km of beach. I guess it's very busy in summer but while we were here it was a lazy, quiet place. We rented one of these 4 passenger bikes. Mark was the pilot who needed a lot of practicing to keep us on the road! It was fun driving through the streets which were mostly level.











Pigeons abound everywhere, especially in St. Mark's Square. They sell little packages of corn which attract the birds. They are actually very dirty and after dad had them sitting on his arms, he was itchy the rest of the day.













Saint Mark's Cathedral.
It's not actually very big but all of the artwork inside is done in mosaic. It's like covering the entire place including the floor and ceiling in contact lenses! Very beautiful. The gold on the ouside arches shone in the sun.



This is a close-up of the arches from the Doges Palace. This is where the ruler of the Venitian Empire lived and ruled until they died. They weren't actually allowed to leave which which would seem to me to be more like a prison! Some of the rulers only lasted a year or so. Makes you wonder how they died. As the years progressed, the power the Doges had became less and less and ended up becoming more of a title rather than a leader.




Mom and Dad dancing in Saint Mark's Square. This was worth a picture since you don't often catch dad dancing!!
There are 3 large cafes each with a small orchestra playing outside. Very romantic.