VENI VIDI VICI

So due to spotty wifi in Roma, and no wifi in Venice and London, I have a lot of catching up to do.

I have made it through Italy!

After leaving Rome, we headed to Venice.

Venice is a sweet little city of islands and canals.  The atmosphere is very touristy, but there are no automobiles or bicycles on the islands so there is a laid back atmosphere.  The churches all over the place are really intricate inside, and I saw a couple places that were in some great movies (I was where the "library" from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was) St. Mark's square was beautiful and the water right next to is was a beautiful blue-green color.  It looks just like the movies with boats and gondolas going around all over the place.

Another cool part of Venice is their tradition of Carnivale.  There are many shops around the city that have super intricate masquerade masks and those shops were a joy to stop in and browse for a while.  (I got a mask)

After Venice we headed to London... I'm going to split up the posts so that it doesn't get so long.

Santa Maria of Salute Basilica

St. Mark's Square

St. Mark's from the side... The front was being worked on.

Bridge of Sighs.  This bridge connects the New Prison with the Doge's Palace interrogation room.  Lord Byron named the bridge the Bridge of Sighs because it was the last view of Venice a convict would see before being taken into the prison cell and they would sigh because they wouldn't see the beautiful Venice anymore.  (Apparently that isn't really the case, but it's the legend)

Rialto Bridge.