GOODBYE PORDNONE HELLO VENICE

    We just arrived back from spending the afternoon and early evening in Venice.  The day started this morning with a mid morning train ride to Venice.  We decided on the rapid train that had few stops.  The Hotel we picked was the Plaza Hotel in Mestre, a one stop train ride from Venice.  It was right across the street from the train station.    This is a very nice place.  How I managed to get 2 great locations was a "fluke".  However the staff here is not nearly as friendly as the last place.

Rialto Bridge

A    We took the train to Venice and walked for the next 8
 hours.  Having been here almost 10 years ago, we were not in a hurry to do anything so we just went strolling to the Rialto bridge.  There we at least 3 big cruise ships in so the place was packed!   Of course the streets are very narrow which added to the congestion. St Mark's Square was a mad house.  However the thing we both noticed immediately was the fact that there was no water in the square and only a few of the "walking platforms" that were here the last time.  Either they fixed the sinking problem, it is a different season or the city is rising.  Very strange.
     After taking the necessary pictures we went into St Mark's Church and did a side tour of

America Cup Race

In The Square

some of the holding.  We noticed that most came from Istanbul which means they were looted years ago.We were going to go to the top of the tower but decided that tomorrow would be a better day for that.  We crossed the Grand Canal to check out the Accademia Museum but did not have enough time to see it.  Perhaps tomorrow.  We walked to Santa Marie della Salute Church , sat on the steps and did some people watching before heading back to the train station.
      We found a little out of the way ( aren't they all!) place for some  pasta and 2 glasses of wine for Judy.  We talked to a "young couple" from California who were in Italy from the first time.  Then to the train station to get the short ride back here.  Tomorrow we will do more site seeing but we have no real plans yet.