Aaaaahhhhh Venice.....

After we went to the train station to buy some tickets this morning, we made a quick tour of the area around our hotel in Treviso.

Then we were off to Venice.  We didn't realize how huge the city was or how many people would be there just looking around.  To say it is not like any place you have ever been is an extreme understatement.....it is 1,500 years old and has canals for streets!!  It is HUGE and it is amazing.  Just thinking about the logistics of getting all off the goods to the stores and all of the trash out of there is staggering.  We saw the UPS boat making deliveries !!

Can you imagine being allergic to mold here ??  We didn't ride the gondolla because the "quote" we got for the ride was 200 Euros....and Echo has to work way too hard for that much money.  So we rode with the common folk on the "water bus"....it was awful.....way over capacity...but a treasured experience.  We did see a lot of Venice as we took the full tour of the city.  Then we went to San Sombody's Piazza and toured the basillica...pretty amazing.  Quite a bit of the this area is under reconstruction.

And so....if you are going to sell advertising on your 1,500 year old artifacts, why not Guess Jeans ??

And as further proof that Venice is modern, even the gondoliers use cel phones.

We got back back on the train to Treviso, and promptly got scolded by the conductor in front of the other passengers for not doing some thing we were supposed to do with our ticket.  At least he didn't throw us off....and we decided we liked German people better than Italian people.  However, after we returned to Treviso, we went to the "American Bar" (because they have free wi-fi and good beer) and asked the bartender for a dinner recomendation...he obliged with a little restaurant one block away and we had a tremendous dinner.  We asked the waiter to pick the wine, entre and desert....and they were all quite tasty.  Didn't remind us of Olive Garden at all.

Tomorrow, we are off to Bolagna, via train (we are becoming train professionals), then a rental car to our house we have rented near San Gigimnano (sp?). (in Tuscan area)  PS. We got our Ducati Factory Tour confirmation for Monday in today's e-mail.....we are excited.