Day 17
Venice
A beautiful sun shiny day greeted us this morning with temperatures of about 28 degrees. The humidity is fairly high but it does feel like summer. The place we are staying has a lovely 3rd floor breakfast room with views of the roof tops and we have croissants and fruit for breakfast.
After breakfast we head off down the narrow streets in search of the Rialto bridge. The clear blue sky makes the water seem aqua as we arrive at the Grand canal and see the bridge and gondoliers. The canal is quite busy as barges deliver goods to hotels and water taxis deliver people. The vaporetto is on strike today so the 'on foot' traffic is higher.
We wander through the shops that all seem to have nice things in them and head towards San Marco. The square is busy but not too bad. There is a chamber group playing music by a cafe and we head over but the food is way too expensive. We settle for a granite (like a slushy) instead, and this satisfies us as the day is getting warm. We sit in the square in front of St Marks Basilica and look towards Doge's Palace.
After our quick break we head to the music museum where there are violins and viola de gambe and cellos that date back to pre 800.
One of the cellos was so old the timber was blackened and it only had 3 strings.
For the next hour or so we wander purposefully through the streets back to our hotel. We do stop for some food along the way.
Time for a siesta and then a late afternoon gondola ride. This was great as we got to see the canals. We also passed the homes of Napolean, Vivaldi and Marco Polo. It was expensive but definitely an experience we will all remember.
Off to dinner now and then a big train trip to Salzburg tomorrow.