Day Nine-May 19th

Up at 7:15 & a lovely blue sky (again) & go out for last breakfast in Firenze! Our lovely hotel has been gracious, even tho they charged us extra for the first breakfast (423 E for 3 nites). A good breakie but no eggs today-the apple sounds better. They do help us with the bags & call for a taxi, so I suppose we'll give them a good grade. No problem with traffic today & we're at the termini real quick & onto our train by 9:30 & headed to the water & the swamp called Venice (Venezia). It's built on mud banks & held together with sticks -all sizes of logs driven into the mud & there's not too many level spots in this place. We have our lunch with us so we eat before the final stop to avoid any problems upon arrival at 11:30, and we are happy that a large group of kids from Alabama get off before Venice. Here we are! Water everywhere & the end of the line..right on the Adriatic Sea, so many canals. Down the local metro & get our 3-day passes for the Vaporetti ( the water buses). Yea! Off we go on our first boat ride to our B&B-The Al Palazzetto. David is the owner & is there to greet us & check us into our room. It is BIG, with a very large Bathroom, hallway & TV. A short breather in the room as we eat a little & prepare to go out and explore. Out we go & over a couple of bridges to the main thourofare, where we find vendors selling everything, shops, bars & restaurants. On to the "bus"( The Vapo) & a short ride to San Marco & The Grand Piazza! Another massive Cathedral & cami goes in to view, but we're not dressed correctly so we cruise the area while she's inside. She's out pretty quick, so we opt for some gelato while shopping. We're a little tired so we duck into a bar for a drink & observe people getting "robbed" by the Japanese girls-per Frenchie. OK, let's hop on the Vapo & go to the Rialto area for serious shopping on a beautiful bridge over the grand canal. It's a big bridge & two walkways over the canal, with shops everywhere & of course local vendors. I see a sport shop with some biking things & go in for a purchase of a Cycling jersey.."Itialia Team".(60E) A few other things are purchhased & back we go to the Vapo & a short rid eto our stop..The Ca D'Oro. Lots of water traffic going on-taxi's, private boats, Gondolas, The Vaporetti's & KK hangs in there. To the room to drop off our stuff & think about supper. Out for a stroll to look for some interesting spots for supper & decide on Trattoria Da Rino, where "Papa" sort of greeted us & later helped with the lights (knocking out all of the power!) It was ok & we had spaghetti w/clams, gnocchi, roasted chicken. fish, ravioli, salads & wine. A good liesurely dinner & good service, but our "island" location causes things to be a little higher in price. Back to our B&B, with mulitple locks, some blogging (journal) & bedtime by 11:00. See you on the canal!!