Venezia

Yesterday was our first full day in Venice. We didn't have a very long list of things to see, so we pretty much just wandered around the city. We did manage to get in a couple of very important sites - the bridge without railings and the original Ghetto. For some reason, April had her heart set on seeing the bridge without railings. Apparently, we were the only ones. It was tucked away on the north side of the city and we were the only ones around. April was sure to stay off the bridge when Tom was near, knowing the temptation might be too great for him to resist. The original ghetto is definitely not a ghetto anymore. It looked like most other piazzas. There was a holocaust memorial & a synagogue.

We also hit some of the more traditional tourist highlights like Piazza San Marco. However, as with most of those types of places, we found the hoards of tourists unbearable. For some reasonù, people let pigeons land on them and they feed them from their hands. Don't people know they are just flying rats? Gross! After a few minutes, we decided to escape the tourists and were remarkably successful. We actually wound up in a completely deserted area of town near the arsenal. It was a nice contrast to the overwhelming crowds. We found a decent spot for lunch that was probably 50/50 locals and tourists which is actually pretty good. It was one of our cheapest meals of the trip.

Last night, after dinner, we went on a gondola ride. Surprisingly, we were the only boat in the canals for most of the trip. Usually, when we see gondolas, they are backed up in traffic jams so we got really lucky. We went by Mozart & Goethe's houses as well as other famous Venice sites. It was very romantic (Tom did not write this).

Today is our last day in Venice, and Italy! We don't have anything planned, so April's search for the FedEx boat will probably be our only real mission.