Venice is sinking...

Wide streets in Venice
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We picked up our car in Rome, and ended up getting instead of an Opel, a Mercedes....don't ask me how that happened, but it didn't cost extra and it's a fancy little diesel to drive. Love it! I've been a bit of a car hog ;) (for those who know me, I'm sure they're saying no surprise) Anyhow, the drive out of Rome was an event. Scary scary!  You've got people driving beside you on a one car street, Mopeds, Bikes, etc... and they cut you off, don't signal, ..oh wait, it's like driving in Richmond :D

On the beach in Lido during storm
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Anyhow, took about 20mins to get out of Rome and once we got on to the Autostrada, kinda like the Autobahn, just not as fast, mind you the minimum speed we went was no less then 120km/hr! The best part is people actually go fast in the fast lane and get out of your way if you are going faster then them!

Venice was fantastic! I almost want to say I liked it better then Rome. Rome had lots to look at but Venice had this underlaying class to it. The problem with Rome is that it was dirty, people leaving garbage where ever they want. Venice is fresh, and well taken care of.

On Breakwater Pier during storm (got told to get off it by lifeguard after, doh!)
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We got in to Venice around 8:30pm, and had to catch a ferry to Lido, it's a small island about 10mins by SeaBus. Found our B&B and then ate at a small little Restaurant on the island.

The next morning...ahem...early afternoon, we got up and headed in to Venice via SeaBus. 24E for the both of us for a 24HR pass. When to St. Marks Square and St. Marks Basilica. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the inside of the Basilica, camera's and video where not permitted. We saw the treasury there and the museum as well. It's pretty fascinating to see things that old.

Gondola in Venice
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After touring the basilica, we headed into the actual tiny streets of Venice and had a wicked couple of sandwiches from a little cafe on the street. Wandered for a bit longer and then headed back to the B&B on Lido.

Headed back that night to Venice after about 7:30pm for dinner and of course, a Gondola ride. Had to! It wouldn't be a trip to Venice without one of the EXPENSIVE Gondola trips.....100Euro...for a freaking slow boat ride, but it was romantic, and we got to see a lot of Venice that we wouldn't have seen on foot.

Gondola In Venice
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Earlier that day we found a painter on the way to the Seabus, and decided to purchase the painting that he was working on. He told us to come back the next day around 2:30 to pick it up, he was still working on finishing it.

Next day we took the Seabus into the Grande Canal, and then back to St. Mark Square to purchase that painting. Turned out that he had another person lined up as well incase we didn't show up, ooo, too bad for them!

Next we're off to Turin!