Italy trip - Venice (Part 1)

We started the Italy trip with Venice. There were 5 of us - me, liping, shuwen, jianyi and isabelle for this trip. The first day in Venice was a really gloomy and grey day.


Grand canal - See the grey skies


Pretty gondolas, but they were too ex. So we didn't take it.


Instead, we took the ferry! the ferry is like the normal day-to-day mode of transportation in Venice.


One of the many couples enjoying their gondola rides. But we didn't hear any gondola man singing though.


Rialto Bridge


A skull structure made of pots and pans - very creative!


The St Maria Salute which was unfortunately under construction. Just like many other great structures of Europe.


These carnival masks are all over Venice! Seems like Venice is famous for it.


That's the St Marco Basilica in the background.


Special clocks and pretty miniature orchestra for sale.



Small canal of Venice


Grand canal - The lights of the restaurants and shops were on just as the sun was about to set.


The second day in Venice was so much better. At least we had quite a fair bit of the blue sky.


Do you think the water level in Venice seems to be dangerously high? I think so!


2nd day to the Piazza St Marco - This is the Campanile di San Marco, or Belltower of St. Mark's


See the queue? The Basilica opens at 930am. We were there around 945am and the queue was already so long.


More of the St Marco Basilica


The Torre dell'Orologio clock tower.


Close up of the clock which displays the time of day, the dominant sign of Zodiac and the current phase of the moon


View of the St Marco Piazza from St Marco Basilica


More of the clock tower


I really like this clock very much. According to Liping, there is a much bigger one in Prague. So hopefully I'll get to see it in Jun when I go to Prague!


View of the Palazzo Ducale on the left, and the Grand Canal leading out to the Adriatic Sea in the background.


More of the Palazzo Ducale - a Gothic style palace





That's the famous Bridge of Sighs in Venice. The bridge name, given by Lord Byron in the 19th century, comes from the suggestion that prisoners would sigh at their final view of beautiful Venice out the window before being taken down to their cells.


View of the Grand Canal and the Bell Tower from St Maria Salute





A cathedral just outside the train station


The Eurostar train which we took from Venice to Florence - One of the nicest and most comfortable trains I've taken in Europe.