Kelly Trips and Tours

We started our last day in Venice, and our last day of the trip, with the yummy breakfast that the hotel serves on their beautiful patio.  Fruit, pastries, tea, eggs, etc.  After arranging a water taxi to take us to the airport tomorrow, we made a bee line for the Vaporetto that is very close to our hotel.  Our goal was Teatro La Fenice, or the Venice Opera House.   On the way we crossed over a couple canals - so pretty.  Passing another beautiful church. Karen has been wanting to see the Opera House and finally got to and no one in our group was disappointed.   Teatro La Fenice We were able to go into this magnificent theater, which is not always possible because of rehearsals, etc. but since it was Sunday, we got to go in.  Words cannot describe its interior beauty, so here are several pictures.   Yes, that's Bill in Napoleon's box. We enjoyed listening to the history on the audio boxes that came with our entry fee. The opera hous...

Day three in Venice gave us the very same weather that we have had every day of this trip.  Beautiful skies, fairly warm temperatures, and no wind or rain.   The view from our window is typical side street Venice - quaint and quiet since were not near the tourist attractions. After breakfast we started out on our day.  View from our window Wonderful, included breakfast on the patio.  Carla had done some research on a city called Padova (pronounced Pad a wa) about 25 minutes from Venice by train.  Padova has some very pretty piazzas, so we started our adventure. We took the Vaporetto to the train station (3-stops), bought tickets, jumped on the train and away we went.  It was a relaxing, quiet ride on the electric train. Crossing the grand canal to the train station. I think this is the train we want. Here she comes - all aboard! Arriving in Padova, we needed to figure out which way to exit the station, which we did after going the wrong way.  Bill...

Well, so much for the plans! After another wonderful breakfast, we got on the Vaporetto heading to the island of Murano followed by a trip to Burano. That meant we would take the Vaporetto from our hotel location across the Grand Canal to the next stop to reach the other side. From there, we walked 15-minute across Venice to another Vaporetto.   That Vaporetto then took us to the first island we'd visit today: Murano, as in Murano Glass. It took about 30-min to reach the island. For those of you who are not familiar with Venice, the Vaporetto is a boat that runs a route just like a bus in a city - only it is on water. There are lots of them with many routes and stops and you have to know what you are doing to not make any mistakes.  More about that later. After arriving Murano, we walked around enjoying the island. As we were walking, we ducked into this church for a rest and to see its interior. Sisters messing around as they look into very expensive glass shops.  B...

Good morning, Venice.  Our first day in Venice started with a relaxing breakfast in the breakfast room of the hotel, consisting of a variety of pastries and hot dishes. This is the breakfast patio looking both directions, After breakfast we boarded the crowded Vaporetto and went to St Mark's Square. Although the main canal was busy, we were able to get a few pictures including the Rialto Bridge. The Rialto Bridge from the Vaporetto We had a reservation for a tour of the clock tower - the Torre dell'Oroligio - for noon, so we had time to walk around and just enjoy this amazing place.  It was a little crowded, but not as bad as it could have been.   St. Mark's Square We noticed that they had elevated walkways (not shown) all stacked up in the square for whenever the water flows into the square, which we found out that they might be expecting to happen tonight. When the time came for our tour, we were escorted by a guide to the clock tower, which is located just to the ...