Ahhhh Venice...

We rode the PSP train to Venice. There were promotion guys passing out PSP literature, but I never flagged one down to collect any. It was in Italian, anyway. I was going to bring my PSP, but at the last minute changed my mind... *sigh*


I wanted a pic of me playing the giant PSP on the side, but that would have been too touristy (and the group was in a hurry).


This adorable dog tried to bite me when I petted it. :-( There are dogs off leash all over the place and they stay close to their owners.


Here is our hotel key and self defense device. The fob weighed about 5 pounds and we were not allowed to leave the hotel with it. We had to check it in and out as we left and entered the hotel, respectively.


Venice is known for both its canals and its glass. Here is a glassblower at work.


They work fast.


Enough stalling. Here is what you really want to see, pics of Venice:



The world famous Rialto Bridge



The (also) world famous Bridge of Sighs. This bridge connects the old courts (left) with the old jail (right). The prisoners would sigh as they got their last glimpse of the beauty of Venice and their last glimpse of freedom.


Pisa's not the only place with a leaning tower.




I took the following pic after spinning around and aiming my camera with my eyes closed just to prove it is really hard to take a bad picture in Venice... The same goes for Florence.


The island of Murano (where they make the glass):


Venice is nice, but I love Florence. The people are more welcoming and friendly. In Vencie, they go out of their way not to understand or speak English. The Florentines will speak English and put up with my bad EnglItalian. I feel more at home in Florence, i felt like a visitor in Venice.

Today back in Florence, I walked to the Puma store to grab a pair of shoes, sandals, and a Puma Firenze (Florence) shirt. The shoes and sandals are for when we go to the beach on the 18th.

After I got back, it rained for a couple hours or so rather hard. I was actually kinda happy to see the rain. The city streets and sidewalks are really grimy. They run street sweepers in some of the main Piazza's every few hours and at least 2 or 3 times a day on my street.

A week from today, we leave for Rome...