Venice! We got to the island about 10 am, to the only place where there is car traffic in the entire city! After being in Rome it was a relief to not have to dodge taxis and mopeds constantly.

We spent the morning wandering along the alleys and canals, following a guide book to some important palaces and places, like the Jewish ghetto. We took the water taxi out to the cemetery- kind of creepy, it is an island all by itself with a wall all the way around. All the headstones had pictures of the person which added to the eeriness of being inside an island cemetery..

We went to St. Somebody's basilica - I can't remember right now, but I'll look that up. Anyway, it was beautiful of course inside and out. There's also a clock tower on the square that has a unique design - so unique that the authorities blinded the designer so he could never duplicate it anywhere else.

With that fun fact to chew on we wandered through the other side of the island, this time looking for a place to stay. We got laughed out of a few places for offering a low price, but we ended up getting one at the price we wanted! We stopped at a little one star establishment about 5 minutes from the bus station, with a receptionist who only spoke Italian. Have no fear! Spanish is close enough to Italian, so thanks to Latin root words we were able to get a nice hotel room with two twin beds and a shared shower.

Venice is a beautiful city, especially away from all the tourists. When we were there three cruise ships were there as well, so it was crazy packed during the day. After the ships pulled out it was calm and the locals came out. Jeff and I got dinner at a little place on the edge of the Mediterranian, right next to the water taxi dock so we got to see the apparently inexperienced captains ram the dock every time they came in to pick up passengers. It must have been a training day or something... The food was REALLY good, and they also did a 'boat up' service too--they were handing out pizzas over the edge to boaters.

We did NOT do a gondola ride, I'm saving that for my fiance or wife. Our dinner on the dock was by candle light... but that wasn't our choice, we didn't know it would be until the sun went down and the waiter came by with candles.

We left Venice the next morning, full of gelato and calzones, and headed for Switzerland.