Venice - scenes from the floating city

Finally we arrived at the city of Venice. We spent several days here and I took hundreds of pictures. Because I took so many our first day, I can't fit them all into one post, so I've broken our first day into a couple different posts. This one will deal with sites and scenes, and then I've got another few posts showing the major churches of the city.

This is the causeway which leads from the Italian mainland to Venice, which is built on an archipelago of 118 small islands.


No cars are permitted within the city, and in fact it would be impossible to drive a car due to the narrow streets, numerous bridges, and miles upon miles of canals. The boat is the vehicle of transportation in Venice. These gondolas are used to haul tourists around at exorbitant prices. Hey, whatever the market will bear!


A shot of Augustin getting ready to attempt a pigeon grab.


Andrew, Gus and Philomena posing on one of the porphyry lions in St. Mark's square.


The massive zodiacal clock on one of the towers of St. Mark's square. It is completely faced in lapis lazuli. As you can see by the sky, it was a beautiful day.


The stunning Palace of the Doges, right on the water's edge.


The three youngest looking out over the lagoon.


A typical Venetian canal, complete with personal motorboats "parked" alongside houses.


An interesting shot of mine, Alex's and Andrew's reflections in the canal.


Andrew Philomena and Augustin found out that you caught more pigeons with cracker crumbs than by chasing them. Feeding pigeons and having them crawl all over you - good times!


Gus standing quite happily beside a novelty - a water ambulance!


Transporting constructing supplies by barge. Check out the apparatus to load material into the waiting boat.


A look out across the water to the Venice's island cemetery.


Augustin and Andrew contemplating a moored gondola.


Masks galore!


The most famous bridge of Venice, the Rialto. Similar to Florence's Ponte Vecchio, it is not just a means of traversing the Grand Canal, but is packed with shops.


The Grand Canal itself.


Mom doing some shopping on the Rialto.


Coming down the other side we stopped by this stall selling "flower" bouquets made of chili peppers.


More masks and glass beads. The colors and selection were outstanding, although you were afraid to move for bumping into something. Terra firma is at a premium in Venice so the majority of shops were quite small.


This is the newest bridge to cross the Grand Canal. It's modern, but quite aesthetically pleasing.