Venice and Castles...

Venice was beautiful....these swans were not in Venice, they were at the castle in Sirmione which was also beautiful. :)

So Venice was freezing...well not that cold, but it was under 50 and that meant it was the coldest I had been in 3 years... But the first thing we did was cross the causeway which was built in the 30s to even GET to the main island. On the bridge we passed people rowing in gondolas. Now there's something you don't see every day. As soon as we got there and parked we went to the park and then spent the morning traveling slowly to Piazza San Marco. On the way we got gelato which didn't melt immediately for once. The Piazza was amazing, well the Piazza was amazing (all the pidgens which you can not feed anymore) but the church was astonishing. You just can't describe it. I mean, it's huge and shiny and magnificent and really old. They stole St. Mark from Egypt and put his remains behind an altar...yeah...but it really is neat...

On the way back to our car we rode the watertaxi (which was fortunate because it was closed the next day because of the transportation strike) so we traveled through the Grand Canal by giant crowded gondola (it wasn't so bad...we managed to grab seats in the front). There are huge palaces sitting right on the water, you would think they would get flooded constantly but I guess it's worth it otherwise they wouldn't build there. Venice is built on poles in the mud. I didn't really know that. Its a marble city built on sticks... I really am surprised it hasn't sunk. But I'm glad it hasn't, it's an amazing city. I want to go back during Carnivale, when everybody dons a mask and runs around. :) I bought a shiny blue mask for myself. Maybe I'll find a time to wear it eventually.

The next day (Monday) we went to the lake and to the little town, Sirmione. There was a castle with a drawbridge and everything! The castle was built in the 1300s. There were frescos painted on the walls in the church which were ancient and vibrant despite the many years they have been in existance. Behind the castle was a little town with Roman ruins and old roads and little shops (all closed because it was a Monday). And the beach was awesome. There were swans (the ones in the top picture) and Steph and I found seaglass and skipped stones. There were also hundreds of ducks in the water and chasing each other and waddling after each other in little lines. Lots of ducks. :)

Tuesday we drove home, passing through Vincenza and Verona. Verona looked really nice, we will go back eventually when it's not foggy. Coming back from Venice that first night it was so foggy we could barely see in front of us. And the next morning it was pretty foggy too. Actually it seemed as if it were foggy all the time except for a small window between 11 and 4 and on an occasional warmer day. I loved Northern Italy and it was well worth the 14 hours I had to spend in the car with my sisters to get there and back. :)