Venice

Our next stop was Venice. It didn't give a first good impression because our water bus took forever to get there, a gypsy tried to steal one of the backpacks, and then the guy who had to show us to our apartment got delayed by the group before us by about 45 minutes... And we were tired from the tour around the Colosseum and the train ride all ready. But Venice made up for it the next day.

Brandon, Kaden (on the far left) and I on the water bus. No easy task to carry our luggage into and off of a crowded water bus!

Jeff taking pictures from the water bus.

The plaza where our apartment was.

A lot of the tall church spires were leaning due to the sinking foundation of Venice.

The next day we took a walking tour, and we asked our guide to take us to the non-touristy parts of Venice, because we were so tired of dodging other tourists and fighting through crowds. Plus several cruise ships had just started letting their passengers off, so it was going to get real crowded, real fast. This was the back of a house. The Venetians were trying to come up with ways to make their houses stand out from their neighbors. I think they accomplished it with this one! It is called the Snail Steps.

Me with the Rialto Bridge in the background. Unfortunately the building to the right of it was under construction, so it looks a little weird.

Jeff and I on the Rialto Bridge.

People eating lunch by the fish and fruit market. I loved that there were steps everywhere that went right into the water!

The is the shop where we got a mask for Sheri. We met the owner and craftsman. He was really cool, and he showed us the techniques he used to make the mask.

This little alley was so beautiful.

Me in the alley.

The Calls on a gondola! The driver said Jeff and I couldn't come on because it would make it unbalanced (whatever) and I didn't want to pay 80 euros for our own ride, so we skipped it and did some exploring by ourselves.

 We took a water taxi out of Venice to the bus station, where a charter bus was meeting us to take us to Hallstatt and Salzburg, Austria. (Just FYI if you ever go to Venice, water taxis are so much nicer than water buses. And it you  have a larger group, it costs about the same)