Today is our 36th wedding anniversary, we had decided to spend the day in Venice and then come back for dinner in Verona. Venice is called many names "Queen of the Adriatic"; "City of Bridges"; "City of Canals"; for us it was the "City of doing a whole lot of walking", or "City of my knees and back hurt". Okay we are a couple of whiners, we are also old as is evident by the fact we have been taking breaks mid-way through the afternoon to go to our hotel and rest.
Some tidbits about Venice. The name comes from the Veniti people who inhabited the are of northern Italy around 1000 bc. The city was settled on several islands as the Roman Empire declined, the first Doge of Venice (or Duke) is reputed to have been named in 697. The Republic of Venice became a sea power through the middle ages and reached its height of power in the early 16th century extending all the way to the island of Cyprus. Continued conflicts against the Ottoman Turks weakened the Republic until eventually the last Doge surrendered to Napoleon in 1796. It's remaining territory was divided between France and the Austro-Hungarian Empire with the city becoming a part of Austria. The significant sites the St Mark's Basilica, Doge's Palace, Bridge of Sigh's were built during the 9th, 12th, and 17th centuries. St Mark's Basilica was built when parts of the Apostle Marks bones (or relics) were stolen from Alexandria, Egypt. I actually knew a lot of this information and could go into more detail about the city states of Italy and how they influenced the Renaissance but I don't have time. Turns out I did know quite a bit of Italian history.
We took an early train from Verona to Venice, the two cities are not as close as I thought because it was nearly an hour and a half ride. We did see many vineyards on the way out of Verona, they seem to put a vineyard in every spare field.

Crossing from the mainland onto the island with the train station you see the classic view of Venice. One thing I do know about Venice is that the Adriatic Sea really wants to take over the city, buildings on certain islands don't appear to be on land anymore but floating on the water.

There are four ways to get around Venice; 1) boats that are essentially city buses called vaporetto; 2) water taxis; 3) gondolas; 4) walking. We decided to get day passes to ride the vaporetto. There are two options for the vaporetto, the slower boat which stops at every stop and takes 45 minutes to get from the train station to the end route, and the fast boat which skips stops and takes about 25 minutes. Our intention was to get to St Mark's square see what we could see and maybe have time to go to the Academia museum. The fast boat we got on was absolutely packed, I am not sure they actually have restrictions on number of people. It started thinning out as the boat made a couple of stops but it was not fun by any means. Once again a boat ride that I am not in enjoying. We did notice the Peggy Guggenheim Gallery (or was that Gutenberg, whatever) on the way to St Marks, however Robyn read later that it was closed on Tuesdays. When we finally got to St Marks Square my comment to Robyn was, hey it looks just like Vegas. When we got off the boat and headed towards St Marks Square I once again was annoyed by the tour groups. Actually what I am most annoyed with are the selfie sticks everywhere. I think those should be banned, in fact I wanted to grab every selfie stick and break them into two, alright got that off my chest. I also have gotten tired of seeing the tour guides holding up a flag, their, umbrella, a plastic flower, so whenever Robyn is looking for me I hold up my umbrella usually open. Robyn took multiple pictures of the Doge's palace, and the bell tower, St Mark's Basilica. When we were standing in the middle of St Marks Square we noticed two wedding parties having their pictures made, personally I thought it was a waste of time because people like me kept getting in their pictures.

Robyn kept asking about the Bridge of Sighs, this bridge is between the Doge's Palace and the prison. It was constructed sometime in the 17th century and legend has it that prisoners sent from the palace to the prison would sigh as they looked upon Venice one last time. This could also be called the marriage bridge with all that sighing.

It is free to tour St Marks Basilica, however for two Euros a reservation time can be placed for each person. We had reserved a 1:00 time, while waiting for our time we went to a small plaza next to the Basilica. The plaza had a fountain in the center that was raised on a stone platform that was about two feet high and was about twenty feet by fifty feet. There were stairs that led up to the platform and it was possible to sit on the platform or stairs. There is no place to sit in St Marks Square so we sat on the platform. Each trip we have taken to Europe we have found a statement that has been memorable, four years ago it was the teenagers on the train to Munich yelling "Scheize - Michael Jackson". Two years ago it was the professional shusher in St Chappelle in Paris. This trip as we are sitting on the stairs here comes an Venice Policeman and he is saying "Bonjourno, no seet, stand up". So we stood and walked away, but not far as we spent the next twenty minutes watching him constantly tell people "Bonjourno, no seet, stand up". It really got to be funny, we wondered who did he **** off to be put on Stand Up patrol. I could see the assignment room earlier that day, "Why do I have Stand Up patrol again? Because you peesssed me off". Just before we entered the Basilica he left with a policeman friend, it was lunch time, I looked back at the plaza and there were probably 50 people sitting.
I will say that going into the Basilica was a waste, glad we only paid for a reservation and didn't wait in a hours long line. My impression was it was dark and not impressive. I am going to make another observation about European Cathedrals, they are not inviting at all, in fact they are very cold.
We decided because of how long the boat ride was that it would be better off heading back early so we did not miss our train back to Verona. On the ride back Robyn got pictures of the Rialto Bridge and Venice police shooting radar at the boats on the canals to make sure they are not speeding.

When we got back we had a nice anniversary dinner at a little restaurant a few blocks from our hotel that is popular with the locals. It was very good and an excellent choice by Robyn. Tomorrow is another travel day as we are off to Florence.