Venice

I was so excited about Venice.  This was the part of Italy I wanted to see.  The hubby wanted Rome, Florence wasn’t originally in the plans, and Venice was mine.  We got in late as we stopped on the way to see Pisa.  We did NOT have enough time and our tour guide even told us that as we arrived, but I’m so glad we DID stop.  It was amazing.  It was hard to comprehend standing in the courtyard that the Leaning Tower of Pisa stood.

The courtyard of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. As soon as you walk through the arches into the courtyard, you realize just how much the Tower leans. Sadly, we did not have time to go into the church. Next time...

The church and the tower. The architecture is just beautiful in Italy. Many buildings in the US generously "borrow" from Italian architecture, but there's just something about being IN Italy and seeing it.

Ok, you can laugh at this photo, but I took pictures of the ground as we walked around. This is just outside the front of the church. Isn't it beautiful? I would love this in my house...though I am sure it is hundreds of years old.

I love this photo! I am sad to say I did not pick one of these cuties up. They were just past the courtyard that houses the Tower of Pisa in a little street with some additional outdoor shops. Hubby said they were like the View Finder toy out when I was a kid. So wish I had gotten one...

I was trying to be all artistic and show how it really leans between two tall shrubs. We then realized that just about everything in the courtyard leans. I guess the other objects didn't want to feel left out!

From Pisa, we headed off to Venice.  It was a drive and it wasn’t until we returned home that I realized just how far Florence and Venice really were from one another.  Our hotel was sadly, not IN Venice, but we weren’t too far away.  Our first night we had a yummy pizza dinner as a group, then headed into town to see Venice at night.  So worth it.  We had one full day before we the tour ended and we were off to Paris.  In hindsight, we had enough time in Florence (well, you can never have enough time, but it was a good amount of time), but we both would have liked one more day each in Rome and Venice.

Aren't you jealous of this photo? LOL! This is our first view of Venice during the day from the train. It was really exciting!

We arrived in Venice via the Grand Canal. What a trip! We had a wonderful boat ride as a group and landed just off the Square. These are some of the buildings leading up to St. Mark's Square.

The corner of the Doge's Palace. An amazing palace! Unfortunately, no photos were allowed inside the palace, so there is little photographic evidence of our time there.

I have no idea who this guy is. I just thought he looked jaunty.

Yup, it's a city of canals and bridges. Gorgeous. If only we had more time to get lost.

Our group on our gondolia ride. What is funny is the two people talking are on two different gondolas. Miss them!

Beautiful architecture in Venice from our gondola ride. It was an amazing experience! I still have a hard time believing I rode on a gondola in Venice.

Soveniers. I had such fun taking photos of soveniers in all the cities we visited. It was my cheap way of taking one home without spending the money!

Murano glass at the train station. We had to wait for our train and so we wandered around to see what was there. It was past time for the shops to be open, but the windows were worth checking out. Isn't Murano glass beautiful?