Venice, Italy

The Grand Canal from the Rialto

Piazza San Marco at aqua alta (read: flooded!) which means no pigeons but lots of funny temporary plastic shoe covers!

Walking on elevated walkways in front of the Church of San Marco, which is made with a lot of marble from Istanbul, then Constantinople, as well as graced by several horse statued "gifted" by the Ottomans.

Anna and I on the 2 hour train ride from Bologna to Venice.

Erin and Jill on the train before we all fell asleep from having only slept about three hours...

Gondolas along the Grand Canal after the sun finally came out.

The Bridge of Sighs. Prisoners were marched over this bridge on their way to various places - thus the sighs.

The Tower of San Marco (I think... )

People wandering around in the flooded Piazza with funny plastic shoe-covers on rather than crowding onto the elevated walkways. The water was over a foot deep when we arrived around 11 am. By the time we left around 5 pm the water was almost totally gone from the Piazza and the sky was blue and sunny. It was fun to see the Piazza both ways!

Me, Jill, and Erin on the Rialto overlooking the Grand Canal.

We went for a day trip to Venice from Bologna, riding the train 2 hours both ways for only 7 euros each way. We had a fun time wandering the streets, shopping for gifts, meeting strange waiters and wading through the flooded city. We tried to get lost but just ended up going in circles. I think I prefer Bologna, but it was fun to see Venice again. I still think it is overpriced, over-touristed and its food isn't as good as elsewhere in Italy. You should still visit it someday before it sinks.

Some photos contributed by Jill!