Venice

For our last stop in Italy we spent a few days enjoying the canals and tiny streets of Venice. We spent our first afternoon wandering the area around St. Marks Square, toured St. Marks and enjoyed a drink on the square while listening to the band and watching the people and pigeons.

Since it was a long vacation, Rich's scruff turned into a full blown beard by the time we got to Venice.

That night we found our favorite restaurant in all of Italy. Meredith enjoyed delicious fish soup while Rich tried the homemade minestrone soup followed by homemade pasta and chicken. We had a table on the canal so we could watch the gondolas go by.

After our wonderful dinner, we walked back through St. Marks' square and down the Grand Canal. Since it was high tide, the square was flooded. Rich caught this picture of the lights reflecting in the flood waters.

The Grand Canal at night.

The next morning we headed out to the islands of Murano and Burano to tour the glass blowing shops and lace stores.

On Murano we watched this "master" who had been working for over 40 years and his apprentice who had 20 years of experience create several glasses, each of varying colors and shapes.

On Burano we also enjoyed walking through the shops and watching the little old ladies sewing the lace in a few of the stores.

Meredith enjoyed lots of shopping!

For our second day we walked from St. Marks Square to the train station including what seemed like a million tiny streets that wound through the canals. Since we had enjoyed Italy so much, we decided to end it with another amazing dinner at our favorite restaurant and an incredibly romantic gondola ride. It was the perfect way to end our Italian tour.