Venice, Italy

On the Monday before his meetings, we took the two and a half hour drive in our rental car over to Venice.  It really is hard to describe how blessed I feel to be able to travel with Dave and for the opportunities that his job has afforded us.  They say the best way to see Venice is to get lost.  That works for me with absolutely no sense of direction.  But luckily for us Dave is extremely talented at getting around new places and successfully took me to all the spots I was hoping to visit, even an obscure bookstore call Acqua Alta.

The grand canal.  Beautiful!

We lost count of how many bridges we crosssed in one day.

It was such a beautiful day.

The smaller bridges had fewer people and more photo opportunities.

This city really didn't disappoint.

We started across town on one of the smaller islands which had a parking structure.  Thanks to Dave's mad navigational skills we made it to the main square.  A nice couple from Texas took our picture in front of St. Mark's Basilica.  You weren't allowed to take pictures inside.  I wish I could've.  Practically the whole thing is covered in gold leaf glass tiles.  It's really incredible..

The Bridge of Sighs near St Mark's square.

Later in the day we took the vaparetto (water taxi) to the island of Morano which is famous for glass making.  We didn't get there in time to see any glass blowing but we loved shopping for these unique

glass pieces.  We were especially pleased to see so many clever insect models.

You wear your backpack in the front while in the glass shop.

A couple of these amazing specimens made in home with us. 

Me choosing some glass candies.

As the sun goes down, Venice becomes even more magical.

We had to wait quite a while to get a spot to take this picture from the Realto Bridge and dodge the guys trying to sucker you into taking a rose from them but it was well worth it.  Love this selfie!

Here I am at the Acqua Alta book store.  It's a crazy small place with these stacks of wet books you can climb on.  It was so interesting.

It was super fun trying on so many carnival masks.

One day in Venice was a dream come true.  Thanks to Dave for being a patient navigator and for Bill and Terrie for keeping the boys well cared for at home!