Venezia

Venice was like a whole different world.  The water was such a brilliant greenish-blue that it looked as though it had been dyed.  What we thought was a little island was actually a series of islands and canals dissecting a very large area.

The first night we wandered around for a few hours before settling on a local place for dinner.  Pasta and wine in case you wondered...  When we were walking around we noticed a large number of (dirty) tables stacked up here and there all along the walks.  When we came out from dinner we were surprised to find that the water had come up over the edge of the canal onto the sidewalk.  All of those tables (planks) were now lined up so that people could walk above the water on them.  The water is actually higher in the morning with up to a meter of water coming up over the canal and into the buildings.  We had to wait to get onto the island each morning because it was too under water. 

As with all of our stops there were too many cathedrals, ruins, and statues to mention.  We did a hop on hop off waterbus tour which was perfect for our rainy day visit to the city.  Ironically, Hurricane Sandy was bearing down on the Northeast at the same time.  I think we got more rain in Venice that in New Hampshire this weekend.  Not the same for Abbie's home- NYC

Here is another of Italy's charming leaning towers (in the background).  I also got a lovely hat as I underdressed today :-/

We toured the Doge's apartments, the nearby cathedral, museum, the bridge of sighs and the prisons.

 

That night I used my Vonage app to call Art to check on the storm.  He said all was fine and it was being overblown in the media.  Lovely, until fifteen minutes later Abbie got a text saying her flight was cancelled.  She then called her bf to find that her Mom had been evacuated from her town in CT.  After no luck on the phone we headed to the airport early to try to find another option for Abbie.  She was able to re-route through Boston which worked out well because the long awaited memorial for Mom was later in the week and her family was up there anyway...

I went home as planned through Frankfurt.  There was a little schnee (snow) and it was chilly so I didn't see much but I had a fabulous dinner with goose, dumplings, and the best fried camembert cheese ever!  Oh, and Oktoberfest beer!  (no wine!!)

I felt very spoiled to get business class with my frequent flier miles.  They upgraded me because it was the only one available