Day 12 - July 18, 2013 - Venice

Woke up in Venice - Room 503~  Great room - large room with a beautiful bathroom, large shower, and a walk in closet.
We were served a beautiful buffet breakfast at Monaco & Grand Canal Hotel with tables outside overlooking the water and regular coffee, not espresso (1st time).
We met our tour guide for a walking tour of Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square) She was excellent, very interesting and very funny! We toured the museum and learned about the history of the Venetians - so interesting! No one trusted each other in Venice, so someone was always in charge of watching over the Doges (their ruler). It was a Republic for eleven centuries, until Italy became a country in 1861.
We walked the world famous Bridge of Sighs, where the prisoners walked over into the cells (and so did we) Then we went into the Byzantine Basilica and the lavish Doges' Palace (24K. Gold) everywhere!! GOLD ceilings  - it was totally amazing and beautiful! In the Church, we saw the Tomb of St. Mark the Evangelist (one of the four people who wrote the Bible) The New Testament! Michael was blown away by that fact!

We continued on to the glass blowing factory where we watched the Master glassblower make two things - a vase and a horse, which was very interesting! We went into the store, and Michael decided that he wanted me to have a necklace for my upcoming birthday so he paid for it!

 We had a one hour break, then we met for our boat ride to Burano Island. (about 40 minutes) We had a fantastic lunch at a fancy Italian ristorante which consisted of wine, risotto, calamari, shrimp, fish, biscotti, cake, cafe and Sambuco! Boat was back around 5:30 and we had a free evening - Rest, shower and dinner at the Hard Rock Venice with Michael!We really enjoyed hearing American rock music and the food was delicious! We walked St. Mark's Square for the last time~

Day 11 - July 17, 2013 - Florence - Verona - Vencie Island

OMG!! We're in Venice!! BUT, we had to take a speed boat from the mainland (about 15 minutes) 12 people and our luggage! I was praying the entire time because I really don't like speed boats! It's unimaginable, very big, many tourists, very beautiful, surrounded by water and boats and canals - Our group gathered and we walked to our hotel.  Michael and I had a beautiful room - one of the best so far! Huge walk in closet and a huge shower in the beautiful bathroom - we we're happy!!

SIDE NOTE  - Michael's comment: I think you should never go on a speed boat ever EVER again!

This morning we drove to Savona - very nice town with great shopping.  We had lunch with Alex - Pizza and a greek salad in an air conditioned ristorante~

The Gondola ride was  a dream come true for the entire group! We had five boats, one accordion player and one singer - it was wonderful! In our boat - me, Michael, Alex, Jiselle and her Grandma - so much fun! It lasted about 45 minutes and we took tons of photo's and video.

Dinner was fantastic too~ We had champagne, wine , dessert & cafe, but we had tea.

We walked to St. Mark's Square and back to our hotel and called some family members (Free WiFi in the hotel)