home

Today started off hot and ended the same way. We began in the morning with a boat trip to St. Mark's Square. The breeze on the boat felt great and the scenery along the way was very picturesque. We met our guide Diana near Doge's Palace where we began our tour. The stories about the Palace were very interesting as was the walk across the Bridge of Sighs. We followed the same path as the prisoners who used the bridge to make there way to court, freedom or execution. We saw the dungeons and it was quite interesting that the windows were scratched with ancient graffiti. Afterwards we went to the Morano glass factory and watched a demonstration of glass blowing. Some of us made purchases, myself included. We left the air conditioned shop for what seemed like too long of a walk back to our boat. Once aboard, the breeze from the water was refreshing. We arrived at the Island of Burano. This was a very quaint place with not nearly as many other tourists as Venice. The buildings were all brightly colored with many flowered window boxes. The town was also built on canals like Venice. They are famous for their hand made laces and many of the shops had women working on pieces in the store. There was a bell tower in the town with a problem a little worse than the Tower of Pisa. They are currently working on reconstruction. After returning to our hotel, some of us attended a most interesting opera. It was performed in an old church and was excellent.

itinerary
course
teacher institute
travel info
photo gallery
links
contacts
student bios
 
 

A view from our morning water bus ride on the way to St. Marks.

 

James has found a new friend in Venice.

 

So many window boxes. The Italians certainly do have a way with flowers.

 

A view of the Bridge of Sighs.

 

Our group poses once again in the Doge's Palace.

 

One of the magnificent stairways in the palace.

 

Okay John, this pose is for you.

 

I think this pose is almost the same.

 

The beautiful clock at the palace.

 

The golden stairway was awesome!

 

A prisoner's eye view from the Bridge of Sighs.

 

Dead man walking. This is the walkway from the dungeon to the court.

 

The facade on the front of  the Byzantine Basilica.

 

 

A more dramatic view of the Basilica.

 

It is really hot and they are still smiling! Judy is contagious.

 

We went upstairs for the glass blowing demonstration in the Murano Glass Factory.

 

Another view of the Bridge of Signs after leaving the Murano Glass Factory.

 

The leaning bell tower in Burano.

 

Everything was quite colorful in this small fishing village.

 

Here we go, invading another town.

 

Once again the flowers blew me away.

 

On a hot day like today, gelatto was once again our friend.

 

The cool breeze on the boat ride lifted everyone's spirits.

 

We all enjoyed the beautiful views.

 

We are enjoying ourselves in sunny Italy.

 

We do clean up nice. We are getting ready to leave for the opera.

 

We trekked down many small streets to find our opera house.

 

The inside of the church was decorated with many paintings and marble statues.

 

After the opera we enjoyed a little vino.