Our final "big trip" out of Florence was a three-day weekend in Venice! We took an early train from Florence straight out to Venezia Santa Lucia station, which is on the "fish shaped" island of Venice. The train goes over a spit of land that connects Venice to Mestre on the mainland:
Besides gondolas, Venice is served by vaporetti -- think water bus! The bus "map" was pretty confusing, though, to figure out which station was served by which "line":
We were staying at a hotel in the Rialto district, which is accessed by the Rialto Bridge:
It was surreal to realize that there were no cars on the island after dodging taxis all the time in Florence. It makes package delivery an adventure, with all sorts of carts and trolleys moving things on and off boats and through the streets...
Our hotel was wonderful, and conveniently located by the Rialto Mercato where we could see fresh fish and produce stalls!
We checked into the hotel and wandered a bit -- and found our way to St. Mark's around noon. We had been told by friends that there might be acqua alta -- high water this time of year due to sirocco winds from the South -- and sure enough, St. Mark's had water in the piazza since it is one of the lower points in Venice!
As you can see, though, Venetians take it in stride -- they have put ramps up whenever acqua alta is expected. (More on acqua alta, later....) The interior of St. Mark's was fortunately dry, and absolutely stunning -- though the floor undulates like the waves of the sea outside!
We then went up the adjacent bell tower to get some beautiful views of the island:
There is a plaque commemorating the 400th anniversary of Galileo's telescope demonstration to the Doge of Venice:
The water in St. Mark's changes day-by-day according to tides and winds -- on this day it was merely a nuisance:
We then walked along the waterfront towards a park space, east of St. Mark's, taking in the waterfront and the adjacent islands:
There was an annual art exhibition still on-going, wi exhibitors from all over the world. We happened upon a playful exhibit from a New Zealand artist, who did interesting things with fluorescent lights!
Then it was back to Rialto for dinner and bed (and to prepare for the next day in Venice!).
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