Venice!!!

Our train station out to Paris from London!Harry Potter!

Big Ben!~!
Buckingham Palace
Christmas at Notre Dame
On top of the Eiffel Tower
!
Amazing/huge hotel in Venice with a great view..more pictures to come!
St.Marks Basilica I think!


December 11,2009
We boarded the train for Venice at the Paris Bercy station. We were in a sleeper car that held 6 people, but there were only 5 of us. We shared the coachette with a French couple that were going to Verona. We didn’t speak to them much, but we did try a little! Scott and I were on the top bunks and dad was on the bottom! Dad and I woke up about 7 am and just watched the sunrise over the countryside leading into Venice. There were beautiful vineyards, church steeples, and mountains in the background. We got to Venice about 10 am and got a water bus to our hotel, which turned out to be AMAZING!! The room was huge with a mural ceiling and windows opening onto the canal. It was located right off the Grand Canal, near the Rialto, so it was an easy walk to St Marco Square, with St Marks basilica and Doges palace, and the million of shops. We ate lunch at a sandwich shop on the Grand Canal – Dad had the best turkey salad sandwich he’d ever had and Scott and I had calazones. Dad and I had our first Italian Gelatto (dad had strawberry, I had strawberry and cherry, scott had pistachio and mint) We bought a little glass snowman and then walked back to the hotel for naps. We ate dinner at a spaghetti/lasagne place and then got another gelato on the way back to the hotel. We went to a grocery store for water, because Scott said we shouldn’t drink the tap water, and then came back to the hotel. Scott has been playing his guitar for us, too!

December 12,2009
As pathetic as it sounds, we are sitting in a McDonalds in Venice listening to Brittany Spears...but at least we have internet! Venice is beyond belief - I could never have imagined how great it is! The entire city is surrounded by water and unlike London and Paris, we can walk everywhere we go. It is so relaxed and peaceful - we could so live here! Last night we had spaghetti and lasagne at a little bistro kind of place near the grand canal. There are Christmas lights decorating all of the walkways and the store windows - of which there are thousands. It is pretty cold - at least from a southern California point of view - and we all have to wear mittens and scarves. Today we walked around St. Marco square. We stopped in a Vivaldi display of violins and how they were made, ranging from about 500 to 1850's. there were even violins with trumpets attached. We eventually ended up at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum where there were Picasso, Kandinsky, Pollack, Klee, Dali, Severini and a special display of Prendergast watercolors. It was great seeing the original artwork so close up. After walking around for about 4 hours we got some great sandwiches and went back to our hotel where Scott played guitar while we relaxed before our gelatto run! We're going to try to see the Vetruvian Man at the Accadamia tomorrow, after the service in the St. Marks basillica.


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