Venice

During the last week of April (2004) and the first week of May, my wife and I enjoyed 2 weeks of perfect work/personal life balance. 3 days working and 10 days vacationing in Italy. The basic itinerary was a weekend in Venice, 3 days working in Rome, and 7 days vacationing in Tuscany. While in Tuscany, we stayed at an Agritourismo near Montepulciano and had the use of a rented Alpha Romeo. So no packing and unpacking, just a week of short day trips in and around Tuscany including Montepulciano, Monteriggioni, San Giminiano, Cortona, Assisi, Vinci (as in Leonardo da), Montalcino, Monte Oliveto Maggiori and San Antimo. We made many wrong turns on the narrow winding roads. We got lost a few times but only once seriously. We ate and drank our way through one of the most scenic parts of Italy, if not of all of Europe. All in all, a terrific couple of weeks. Make sure to click on the thumbnails below to expand them.

Venice: The Piazza San Marco is the center of gravity for tourists in Venice. Our hotel was just 50 meters from the far corner of the piazza.
Venice: For a modest amount you can buy bird food from street vendors in Piazza San Marco. This attracts thousands of pigeons to the piazza. I spent a couple of hours trying to get a great pigeon picture and discovered it is much harder than it looks. Try it if you find yourself there. Those buggars are fast!
Venice: A photo essay on Venice would be incomplete without the classic "gondola picture." This is on the Grand Canal just before it empties into the Med near Piazza San Marco.
Venice: In the picture above, it is difficult to see how lavishly these gondolas are decorated. Click on the thumbnail to the left for a much richer view. The weather on the day I took these pictures was sunny and pleasant. It was quite a contrast from our arrival when it rained long and hard.

Venice: While we were there, Venice was celebrating some festival. In the piazza there were people dressed in renaissance costumes. The festival included music, gondola races and other shenanigans. Pretty fun to watch.
Murano: During our stay in Venice, we took a vaporetto out to the island of Murano which is the center of the Venetian glass industry. Here's a piece of glass we really liked and ended up buying while we were there.