Venezia, Italia :)

Last weekend, Kevin and I went on a wonderful vacation together to Venice!!! Kevin came to Mannheim on Thursday night and then we left together for the Frankfurt Hahn airport bright and early on Friday morning.  The flight only took about 1 hour and 20 mins and we arrived in Venice at about 1:30pm and took a water taxi to the island of Lido, where we were staying.  We stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast on the main street in Lido, Gran Via Santa Maria Elisabetta, and our room was really nice because we had two windows that opened up giving us a mini balcony overlooking the main street.

Outside our hotel, Hotel Reiter

Me on our hotel room balcony

After putting our stuff down in the hotel, we walked a few more blocks down the street to the other side of the island that faces out to the Adriatic sea.  At the end of our street there was a free, public beach so we walked out and took a few pictures!

Standing in the Adriatic Sea!

After walking the entire width of Lido, we decided to be adventurous and so we headed over to the main island to walk through San Marco and just wander the narrow, winding streets.  We made our way to the Rialto Bridge and by that time we were both starving so we decided to have a nice dinner on the Grand Canal with an excellent view of the bridge. After dinner, we were exhausted from the long day of traveling so we just went to sleep.  Below are some more photos from day 1:

Rialto Bridge

Kevin and I on the Rialto Bridge
with the Grand Canal in the background

Our first dinner in Venice: Dinner on the Grand Canal

View of the Rialto Bridge and Grand Canal from our dinner table

 The next morning, we ventured over to the main island and took a tour of Doge's Palace (Palazzo Ducale), walked through Basilica San Marco, and went up the bell tower in Piazza San Marco to get an amazing 360 view of the island.  Then, we took a water taxi up the entire Grand Canal to see the scenery along the canal and then we went to the island of Murano.  Murano is famous for its glass factories and there are tons of showrooms and stores that sell only Murano glass items.  I also discovered that I have a "soft spot for glass", as Kevin said. Also, it was funny because at one of the stores, I was able to understand most of what this old lady was saying to me in Italian, but because I don't know Italian, I just responded in Spanish and she completely understood me so we had a conversation that consisted of her talking to me in Italian and me responding in Spanish :).  We ate dinner on a canal in Murano and then headed back to Lido to get gelato and relax for the rest of the night. Below are some pictures from day 2:

Basilica di San Marco

Kevin and I in front of the Basilica

On top of the Basilica

In front of Doge's Palace

View of Piazza San Marco from the tower

A view of the main isalnd from the tower

San Giorgio

I <3 Gelato!!!

Sunday, we spent half of the day on the island of Burano and then returned to Lido in the afternoon to go to the beach.  Burano is famous for its colorful buildings and its lace shops.  It was really peaceful and beautiful there, a million times better than being on the main island in a sea of tourists. We took a lot of pictures because it was so beautiful that it just felt surreal to me. We went back to Lido for dinner and ate at a restaurant across the street from our hotel.  The restaurant was nice because we were able to sit in the garden terrace behind the restaurant.  Kevin was happy because he finally was able to get Proscuitto crudo e melone.

A clothing/lace store in Burano

Pretty house :)

Me with an ambulance!

Our last dinner in Venice :(
Kevin with his Proscuitto crudo e melone!