Venice

We went to the watery world of Venice this weekend! And since it was raining, we got doubly wet.

The city is lovely, if smaller/more expensive/more touristy than Florence. It is always startling to look out and see a door that opens right into the river. It is rather eerie, actually. Like a big flood came in and then stayed.

We enjoyed the train ride up and back, which lent itself to great views of the green fall hillsides. The olives and grapes are all in harvest mode still, which means there is a sense of busyness in the fields. Frequently, you can see or smell fires as areas are harvested and cleared.

In Venice, we managed to accidentally catch the Mass at St. Mark's - we were in line and were wondering what all the fuss was about, then were ushered into chairs and heard the choir start up! It was very surprising, but a beautiful service. The inside of the church is gold mosaics - similar to the Baptistery in Florence. Quite full of locals and visitors.

We wandered around St. Mark's, toured several Museums and the Duke's Palace. Our favorite was probably the Leonardo daVinci exhibit set up in an empty church. There are replicas of many of his designs, and copies of his sketch book.

We also found a nice tea room to escape the rain in (delicious biscotti here, much better than most of Italy) and went to Harry's Bar - originator of the terrific Bellini.

All in all, a great weekend away.