Venice Girls Trip!

I've been planning a trip to Venice with my girl friends for about two years now. Squirling away the funds, and planning (well, Brandon did the squirling and Denise did the planning). I did the enjoying! It was the four of us...



We flew from Phoenix to Atlanta to Paris to Venice...our last mode of transportation looked like this...
...waterbus didn't see a single car there, our gondolier didn't know how to drive.


We saw the sights...the Rialto Bridge built in 1591 pairs of shops actually line the bridge! Beautiful.


Views from the Bridge...



St. Mark's Square...Denise found us an awesome apartment about a minute's walk from St. Mark's. We were right in the middle of it all!



We went up St Mark's Campanile (Campanile di San Marco in Italian) It's the bell tower of St Mark's Basilica in the Piazza San Marco. It reached it's "current form" in 1514.



It's the tallest structure in Venice, so we could see it all.

This is a birds-eye view of the Doges Palace...which we were able to tour on our last day there...more later.


In St. Mark's square....EARLY in thr morning, it was SOOO crowded during the day!



Also in St. Mark's square...Saint Mark's Basilica. It was undergoing some renovations.

Typical Sights to see on a Venician Street...



Denise and me...


Went to the Opera at La Fenice. Built in 1774, burned down and re-built twice. It was a georgous building!


Saw LOTS of churches...








Grand Canal




On the Accademia Bridge over the Grand Canal



Traffic Jam...


Inside of the Doge's Palace in the courtyard. Wish I could travel through time and see Carnival Ball coming through the courtyard after they got out of their carriages. I love to be in places rich with history! The Doge's Palace is like our White House. The Doge is the President. It was where they ran the government, and held trials


Supplies coming in for the Coup (grocery store)The cart on the boat there with two wheels would be loaded up then pulled by hand to the stores


Had a strict three item diet while I was there...



All good things must come to an end. You really could spend a month in Venice and not see everything that you want to. We had five days. We left early in the morning for Italy's Cinque Terre: Vernazza...


The Train ride there...Still can't believe we made it on the right trains and transfers when no one spoke english.


Cute Little Italian Mama...we met her on the Train ride...the girls were teasing me that they went to sleep and by the time they woke up I was speaking Italian with her :0) She was so sweet! She even invited us to come and stay with her and she would cook for us...I love to travel and meet people.


It's a beautiful little fishing village right along the coast. "Cinque" means 5 in Italian, because there's a chain along the coast of five little villages. You can hike between them or take a short 5 minute train ride to each one. After Venices 15 hour days of go-go-go, this laid back little town was just right.


Me and the staple of my diet while I was there, Gelato! First car we've seen in a week and it's closer to a tricyle than a car. It's the trash collection vehicle. I think that the locals thought we were pretty wierd taking a picture of the trash car.


Vernazza was a much slower paced town, it was delightful to visit with locals and shop and walk and hike...




Hiked up to this tower that overlooks the town in one direction and the opposite direction looks out to sea. They used this watch-tower to protect the village from pirates.




Hiked one town over to Montoroso. It was a long, hot hike with lots of stairs. But it had nice scenery!




We took the train back and ate lunch...delicious food there!




We ate more gilato and people watched down by the water...Some fishermen threw this octopus up on the dock right infront of us.



I know it doesn't look fancy, but hands-Down Best Spagetti I'll ever have in my whole life!!!! I inhaled it, and since it was our last night ordered a second plate and ate that one too. I seriously have dreams about that spagetti, and it's not like I have a passion for spegetti. It was just so so Good!



We had to bid "arrivederci" to this sweet sleepy little town...




...and say "Buon giorno" to Pisa. We took the traditional "Look mom! I'm holding up this leaning tower"-pictures.


It was truely the trip of a life-time. I love these girls and the time that we got to share there in Italy! Memories that I'll always cherish!


We hopped on the plane to come home. It seemed it took us two days to travel home, but my loving family was waiting for me there and I missed them! Brandon juggled the kids and work for me while I was gone. The kids had all set up their "desks" to work when Daddy needed to work. And he did tons of fun things with them. Oh, how blessed I am!


Ciao!