snowflakes

Weekend in Venice

Shophouses along the grand canal

I have a list of places that I want to go before I die….and Venice is one of them. Well, one down and more to go!! =)

Venice, or known as Venezia in Italian, is a city of canals and palaces, tawdry sewer drawing thousand of crowds from all over the world. The city stretches across numerous small islands in the marshy Venetian Lagoon along the Adriatic Sea in northeast Italy. For more facts on Venice, you can visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice.

The main attraction in the town is of course the romantic Gondola ride….it cost 80 euro for a 40 minute ride!! Not so romantic after all!!! =p

The other must-see sites are:
– Piazza San Marco
– Doge’s Place
– Campo San Polo
– The Bridge of Sighs

Most of the time was spent in the mesuem, and Doge’s Place, a late-gothic palace built during the golden era of Venice. The architure is magnificient, and perhaps the most spectacular room is the Grand Council chamber or Sala del Maggior Consiglio. It’s lined, walls and ceiling, with pantings….... one of which, Tintoretto’s vast Paradise, is reputedly the world’s largest painting on canvas. Unforunately, no photos on this…as we were not allowed to take any inside.

Alas, after hours of navigating through narrow streets and bridges, we concluded our journey in Venice with a traditional Italian meal – pizza! (I will post another blog, dedicated to Italian cuisine…so more pictures of food there.)

• Am still in the midst of creating a gallery to upload all the pictures…..once it’s done, i will put up the link.
  

Here’s a portion of the photos taken…

Gondola Boat Man


A beautiful monument by the grand canal


Gondola in the background


Doge’s palace


My travelling companions – (back row from left):
Quoc Huy (Vietnam), Fr Greg (Polland), Yixian (China), Sadnan (Bangladesh), and Yansen (Indonesia)