On the morning of the 27th, we ate Pandoro cake, nutella and bread sticks, and had some tea before leaving for the rail station.
On the way we ate pizza from the day before as well as some cookies that our friend snuck in our bag.
We took a water bus into the city and it was very surreal to finally see the floating city so often portrayed in romances, spy movies, and the occasional fantasy novel.
My first gondola!
The Venetian Polizia!
These aren't your ordinary alleyways! Venice is riddled with all sorts of bridges connecting blocks of historic buildings and once we were even lucky enough to see a gondola go by and in it, a couple being serenaded by a talented tenor.
This statue is found in the 'piazzetta' outside the Palazzo Ducale.
In Venice, many of the dogs we saw were wearing coats!
This lion is shown with its paw on an open book and according to the local trivia, the text says
'Pax tibi, Marce, Evangelista meus.'
This is Latin for 'Peace be upon you, O Mark, my Evangelist.'
Apparently St. Mark was greeted with these words by an angel while visiting Italy. He was also told that Venice would be his final resting place.
In Italy, George Clooney is all the rage.
Another angle of the mascot of Venice...
We stumbled upon an Italian music museum where they were also selling tickets to a Vivaldi/Bizet concert. We decided to splurge a bit and scooped up the tickets!
There are many winged lions in Venice because it is the symbol of St Mark, the city's patron saint ever since his remains were brought over from Alexandria, Egypt, where they were recovered in 828CE.
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