A little bit of history of Boveglio, Villa Basilica, Lucca, Toscano, Italy..Flight booked for Kenya…No more tremors during the night…

Posted by worldwide-admin on June 22, 2013 with 0 Comment

On our hilly, heart pounding walk this morning, the simplest views caught our attention.

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Our MiFi isn’t working in Boveglio. The Internet connection provided by the gracious property owners of our temporary home have WiFi but it is slow and unpredictable, requiring us to either be outside for a good connection. Most likely the issue is due to the three foot stone walls in this lovely property.

Thank you for your patience. We appreciate the notifications and give this the utmost concern. Please continue to enjoy our posts in the interim via this link.

Last night, close to sunset, we discovered this village of Colognora beyond the mountains.

As the sun was about to set, the moon began to peek out. Surely in the next few nights it will be full, definitely inspiring us to get more shots.

Luckily, there were no more aftershocks yesterday although we’d made a plan before bed that if there were during the night as to where we dash to safety. Also, Luca the owner wrote to us yesterday explaining that the house had been retrofitted for earthquakes when it had recently been remodeled, putting our minds at ease allowing us both to get a good night’s sleep.

Its interesting to observe the change in colors as the night falls while the cloud create shadows on the hillside.

As the sun goes down.

With all of our adapting and adjusting this past week, we’ve determined that we love it here. We’ve accepted that the long winding drive to a larger village is a part of its Boveglio’s charm and beauty. The house with it few quirks and challenges has, in this short period, become home for us.

Last night, after dinner and watching the movie on my laptop, “Under the Tuscan Sun” we couldn’t stop smiling, as we sat on the veranda watching the sun go down, knowing full well that this is the place for us. With over two months in front of us, we are peaceful and content. The owners couldn’t be more helpful and kind, responding to our every whim with dignity and grace, as we strive to do the same.

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Finding historical information about the 700 AD village of Boveglio was more challenging to accomplish than we’d anticipated. These villages, many of them still existing in a lifestyle reminiscent of earlier centuries, have yet to transfer information from their historical books to the Internet. How foolish we are to assume that we can find everything online?

Butterflies are everywhere here in Toscana, a rarity in the US with the rampant use of pesticides killing them off. The US uses 80% of the world’s pesticides. (OK, I’ll get off my soapbox!)

After considerable research, we’ve found this link is the best we could share with you regarding the history of this area. As we’ve discovered, the village of Boveglio is a part of the larger village of Villa Basilica, which is a village in the Lucca region, which is located in the region of Toscana, aka Tuscany.

In this area, as one leaves a village, a diagonal line crosses the name of the village. Notice the hairpin sign, one of many on our ride down the mountains to Collodi, the village large enough to find groceries, a pharmacy, supplies and sundries, roughly a 30 minute drive from Boveglio.

This Bed and Breakfast is a few hundred feet from our door.

Originally researching Boveglio, we were excited that this bar and restaurant was within walking distance. Unfortunately, we never asked the owners of our house, Lisa and Luca, if it still was in operation. It has closed down as a public facility, now occupied by its owners. The economy has spared no small businesses in Italy as we discover as we travel the world.

Rather than copy and paste gobs of information here, we’ve provided this link that you may find interesting as we did.
http://italia.indettaglio.it/eng/toscana/lucca_villabasilica_boveglio.html

Tonight, we’ll have our “date night” (goodness, every night is date night these days), heading to Benabbio to Il Cavallino for dinner, to pay our bill for last Sunday’s dinner when we had no Euros (we now are stocked with enough for our remaining time here) and to pay Vivienne for the few supplies we’d purchased on Monday prior to our outing to Collodi on Tuesday to the larger store.

A house in our neighborhood appearing to be occupied.

In the interim, we’re running out of Prosciutto, an Italian substitute for Amerian bacon. Hopefully, we’ll find Vivienne serving at the restaurant again and she’ll run across the street, open her tiny shop and bring us back a supply to last us until we go back to Collodi in 10 days.

This morning on our walk, we encountered the owner of this property which is next door to us, making a feeble attempt to introduce ourselves. She spoke no English.

Bacon, which we love and is allowed in moderation on our way of eating, has been somewhat of an issue in our travels. In Belize, they called it “butt bacon” and like butts, it was too fatty. On some of the cruise ships, the fatty bacon was palatable only when very well done but still too fatty.

In Dubai, there was no bacon at all due to pork avoidance by Muslims. Instead they sell a beefy substitute that although palatable, didn’t taste like bacon.

The houses across the street from us.

Now, in Italy, there is no bacon at all as we know it, only Prosciutto which doesn’t taste like bacon but does have a pleasing salty flavor when cooked with a touch of olive oil in a stainless steel skillet.

Drawing in stone of the Virgin Mary inside the stone wall across the street from our house.

This morning’s breakfast consisted of scrambled free range eggs, with sautéed organic onions infused with tiny cubes (no shredded cheese here) of locally made cheese. Add the perfect Italian coffee, Lavazza and we were content until we savor Alessandro’s perfectly prepared dinner tonight at his restaurant.

Tomorrow we’ll include photos of the village of Benabbio and also our meals at Il Cavallino, prices and comments.

Now for the details of our upcoming flight to Kenya.

Planning for the next step in our journey never ceases. As much as we’d like to plan and book every form of transportation well in advance, we find it make more sense to continue to research and lock it in as we go.

Planning a flight two to three months in advance is often adequate, although we’ve continued to check pricing as many as 300 days in advance (one can’t book a flight more than 330 days in advance with most airlines).

If we had our way, we’d never fly, taking ships and trains to our locations. But, at this point in our travels with our burgeoning bucket lists, we’ve decided to bite the bullet and go to our most desired areas of the world first. Thus, we fly.

Actually, our first flight wasn’t until we were almost eight months into our travels, when we fly from Dubai, UAE to Barcelona, Spain to go on our 8th cruise. As mentioned in a prior post, we loved Emirates Airlines (except for the excess baggage fees and the confiscation of two power cords).

Unfortunately, Emirates doesn’t fly all the way to Mombasa, Kenya which would force us to take an flight on Ethiopian Airlines part of the way which has many horrible reviews. I can picture cows and chickens on their flights while passengers sit in seats lined up against the side walls. Perhaps, an exaggeration but I can’t get this image out of my head.

Small houses appearing abandoned are actually often occupied.

Here is our one way flight from Venice, Italy, where’s we’ll return the rental car to the Marco Polo Airport, which forbids passengers from arriving any more than three hours before departure.

This flight will require us to drive from Bogevlio on September 1, 2013 to Venice staying in a hotel near the airport, which is a half hour drive from the area of Venice we visited last Saturday. Flight departs the next morning, is an partial overnight flight with us arriving in Mombasa at 3:10 am.

Total duration: 15h 25mArrives next day

Venice VCE 10:45am	Istanbul IST 2:10pm Terminal I	2h 25m 902 mi
Turkish Airlines 1868 Economy/Coach (S) Seat Preview Airbus A321 \| Meal Layover: 4h 5m
Istanbul IST 6:15pm Terminal I	Kilimanjaro JRO 1:10am + 1 day Arrives on Tue Sep/3/2013	6h 55m 3,108 mi
Turkish Airlines 673 Economy/Coach (S) Seat Preview Boeing 737-900 \| Meal Layover: 1h 0m
Kilimanjaro JRO 2:10am Departs on Tue Sep/3/2013	Mombasa MBA 3:10am Terminal 1 Arrives on Tue Sep/3/2013	1h 0m 180 mi
Turkish Airlines 673 Economy/Coach (S) Seat Preview

Price for two, one way: US $1468.66 (taxes and fees included).

What do we like about this flight:
1. Many of the available flights took upwards of 32 hours. This arrives in 15 hours, 25 minutes.
2. The airlines, Turkish Air, overall had good to excellent reviews.
3. The layover times were shorter than other flights.
4. By using the same airlines all the way through, it’s less likely our luggage will be lost.

What we don’t like about this flight:
1. Too long, in any case.
2. Unable to arrange seat assignments until closer to flight time. (It on our calendar to check back 30 days out).
3. The cost. There were cheaper flights, none of which were well reviewed airlines.
4. Unable to clearly define the baggage allowance in advance. We are considering shipping half of each of our belongings to Kenya, even with the risk of it not arriving. (We’ll insure it). First, we must check with the owner of the property in Kenya which we will do shortly.

Booking through Expedia.com where we have an account earning points, we feel confident in our decision.

Our rental in Kenya begins on September 1st. Arriving on the September 3rd results in our paying for two days rent and not yet moving in. Kenya has a 90 day visa provided at the airport upon entrance.

Flowers blooming near our exterior door.

By arriving a few days late, we avoid the necessity of obtaining an additional visa with our rental ending on November 30, 2013. We save on visa fees, travel costs to the closest immigration office and a tremendous amount of inconvenience. The loss of two day’s rent is well worth it.

There it is folks, our story for today. We’ll be back tomorrow with more news.

Nuances, annoyances and obstacles of living in a 300 year old house…5.2 eathquake hit today while writing at 12:33 PM!!

Posted by worldwide-admin on June 21, 2013 with 0 Comment

The issues receiving the automatic email each day as mentioned yesterday have been resolved by our web designer. No later than tomorrow, you will begin to receive the daily posts in your inbox.

Also, we’d planned to discuss the upcoming flight to Kenya today. However, as today’s post became so lengthy, we decided to hold off until tomorrow.

Halfway through writing our blog today, we experienced a 5.2 earthquake as we sat on the veranda. Having grown up in southern California, this was a familiar sensation for me although it was Tom’s first experience.

We reminded ourselves as we ran for cover, that we are in an over 300 year old stone house, most likely the safest place to be. Wow! The adventures never cease to amaze us!

Last night as we crawled into bed at 9:30, early for both of us, we hauled our laptops into the bedroom to watch a few familiar news programs, some of which we’re able to access from afar.

No more than a moment after getting settled a giant flying thing buzzed my monitor causing me to scream and flail my arms wildly killing it. Jumping out of bed to examine and remove it remains, Tom bolted out of bed to quickly shut the screen-less windows grumbling all the while about the lack of screens.

As a cool breezy night, we’d hoped we could sleep with all the windows opened. Its like camping. We don’t camp. In my automatic response to scream, a quick thought ran through my mind…soon, we’ll be in Africa. Talk about bugs! (Those who know me, feel free to laugh).

A window in the long hallway that we keep open during the day allowing a variety of flying insects inside. At night we have no choice but to close most of them to avoid bugs flying around our heads during the night.

Overall, I’ve overcome the sight of a flying or crawling creature having lived in a nature area in Minnesota for decades. But when they land on me or my stuff, I scream, involuntarily of course.

Another screen-less window in the kitchen. There was a huge geranium plant in the window box, constantly attracting bees some of which we’re both are allergic. Tom removed the flowers placing them outside enabling us to enjoy the view and the breeze while cooking and dining.

The single most annoying aspect to living in this 17th century stone villa is the lack of screens. You The remainder…we’ve adapted to quite well.

The window in my bathroom is kept open during the day. We found a good spot for our the trusty travel scale which Tom is using often as he quickly loses the weight he gained on our past eight cruises. (It converts to kilogram necessary for weighing our bags for flying). Together we are enjoying our low carb, gluten free, grain free, sugar free and starch free diet since we arrived, dining on the freshest meats, cheeses and organic vegetables we purchased only a few days ago.

The third bedroom that sleep four, has a window we keep open during the days for the added breeze. We’ve yet to be uncomfortable during the day although the daytime temperature raises well into the 80’s. After months of air conditioning, the clean, humid air is refreshing.

Yesterday, the owner’s mom delivered us a regular coffee pot as opposed to this one in the photo below that we’ve tried to use that only makes a one cup portion and is too hot to handle immediately to make another. Avoiding injury is of our utmost concern. We can tolerate the inconvenience.

Remember these old fashioned percolator? Its must smaller than it looks here, making only one large cup at a time. We tried to make it work to no avail. Kindly asking the owner for an alternative, within hours we had a regular plug in drip coffee pot that makes 12 cups at a time. We’re couldn’t have appreciated it more, making our first batch this morning. It required a little experimenting with the strong Italian coffee.

These are the smaller versions for tea and the smallest for espresso which most Italians seem to prefer over regular coffee. When we grocery shopped earlier in the week we stopped in a café hoping for a plain cup of coffee and cream to discover they didn’t serve such a product, only espresso which neither of us care to drink.

The owners, living nearby, are a lovely young couple. Her parents maintain the property by stopping by each few days to water and tend to the gardens and make any necessary repairs. None of them speak English but with the help of Google Translate, we can easily communicate by email.

Surprisingly, we’re learning enough Italian to decipher most conversations by picking up on a few select words, Tom included. Since arriving here last Sunday, we’ve yet to share a sentence with an English speaking person.

I wish we’d had this when our little dogs had “poopie butts” in the cold Minnesota winters!
The sun shines in my bathroom from the open windows most of the day, highlighting this practical accoutrement, mostly ignored in the US.

Tom’s tiny en suite bathroom window stays open during the night seemingly attracting less bugs than other windows in our bedroom.

Another aspect of this house, is the extremely long hallway from the master bedroom to the kitchen with several inconsistent steps along the way, a real hazard for old timers.

Its difficult to tell the length of this hallway from this photo but we expect its no less than 45 feet based on measuring using Tom’s 3 foot stride.

Plus the angled ceilings are low requiring Tom, four inches taller than I, to duck. He has hit his head on several occasions getting better each day. If I walk to close to the one side, I, too could hit my head, having had a few “brushes” so far.

Also, climbing on the larger patio is tricky, requiring one to pull themselves onto it from the stone stairwell. Subsequently, we use this patio less frequently but have found it ideal for hanging wet laundry to dry outdoors. The barbeque is located on this patio which we may not use as much as we’d like due to the tricky access.

The patio is through the doorway on the left in this photo. Can you see how tricky entering here may be for us older folks? We enter together carefully, me first while he hold up the rear down a few step and then with me offering him a firm helping hand as he climbs up.

This is Tom’s “closet” in the master bedroom, not everything he has, just what he’ll wear while here. To the right is a large four drawer dresser he’s using. It all works for us.

If we were 20 years old, it would be no issue. In the advertisements for this house the owners clearly stated, it was unsuitable for the “old or infirmed.” Cocky that we were, not considering ourselves neither “old or infirmed” we signed up. Now that we’ve figured easy ways to maneuver these challenges, we’re more at ease.

Our assumptions that houses have closets and lots of hangers is often based on our past experiences. We’ve found, after months on ships, that we can easily adapt to limited closet space. Maybe I’m not as tidy as I used to be, stuffing everything into the spaces available. Wrinkle free clothing is not so important to us anymore. I threw away the clothes steamer in Dubai when trying to lighten our load.

This is my closet in the second guest bedroom, a piece of furniture not a built in closet. Hey, folks, these are all the clothes I own in the world, except for our Africa clothing which we haven’t unpacked. Not too bad, after years of four closets in four bedrooms, filled with decades of clothing. How I can possibly trim this down to further reduce our weight baffles me.

As much as a retired person may think that watches and clocks are a thing of the past, we find ourselves checking the time several times a day as a normal part of life.Tea time? Happy hour? Its getting late, we should eat. Of course, we have the medieval clock tower next door that clangs close to the half hour and twice close to the hour, 24 hours a day. Strangely, as loud as it is, we sleep through the night.

The very old living room sofa, dating back to the early 1900’s is worn and covered with this cloth. Unfortunately, it is rather uncomfortable. Plus, we prefer to sit outdoors on the veranda most of our time, day and evening until bed. Its hard to take our eyes off of the breathtaking views, sounds and smells.

Although this farm sink is great for washing large pots and pans, in our authentic Tuscan kitchen it is close to the end wall, making it impossible for two to do dishes together. As result, Tom washes alone and for the first time in my life, I allow dishes to “air dry” removing them to use the day for new meals. This makes Tom happy. If his happiness is achieved this easily, I’ll comply.

This is the opposite end wall in the kitchen. Note the radiator toward the bottom right. Luckily, no stones were damaged during the earthquake we experienced only minutes ago.

Living in Minnesota, I’d often seen these food covers to protect food from insects although I’d never used one. Now, as we prepare meals in our kitchen without screens, this is the first item we grab.

Tomorrow, we’ll share our Kenya flight details and the history of the village in which we are currently living which dates back to 700 AD. Hopefully, we won’t have anymore earthquakes!

This tiny freezer with our stock of meats and two ice cube trays fits our needs. In our old life we had a giant stand alone freezer plus more. We do adapt, don’t we?

Our tiny old fashioned refrigerator is stuffed with enough food to last for two weeks while we dine out twice a week.

Is boredom an issue when we’re situated in one place? Dangerous roads…

Posted by worldwide-admin on June 20, 2013 with 0 Comment

Note: A small number of our readers have chosen to receive daily email of our posts, which arrive 24 hours after we’ve uploaded a new post. Since we’ve arrived in Tuscany, the daily email hasn’t arrived for some readers. We have reported this to our web designer and she is working on discovering the issue and correcting it.

In the interim, if you bookmark our page: www.WorldWideWaftage.com when you open it, the newest post will be presented immediately and you can scroll down to see the prior day’s post.

Thanks for your patience and know that we’ve given this technological problem our utmost attention. Once resolved, we will note it here on the next daily posting. Thanks for sharing our travels with us! Jess & Tom

See the two blue chaise lounges at a distance? That is another patio for our one hour of sunning time every few days. Due to the greenery, there’s a fair number of bees buzzing about. Tom and I both have allergies to bees, thus limiting our time in that spot.

We never expected that traveling the world would be a continual flow of one glorious experience after another. Without a doubt, we’ve enjoyed a multitude of outstanding experiences, many back to back, many day after day.

Then, there are the days in between where daily life, as in the lives of all of us, are simple, uneventful, frustrating and downright disappointing. Although, neither Tom nor I ever suffer from boredom.

We’ve learned at our advancing age how to easily entertain ourselves, sitting quietly in restful repose, engaging in idle chatter or picking up our smart phones to read our latest book in our Kindle app. Even now, without a solitary English speaking TV channel, we find ways to make our days and evenings, special in some way.

The view to our left.

Recently, we’ve been able to download and watch the entire 3rd season of Downton Abbey by Instant Video, setting up my laptop on the kitchen table, watching one episode per night, savoring the pleasure while we’ve dined on our homemade dinner, pausing only to do dishes.

Tonight, we’ll watch the movie, “Under the Tuscan Sun” by Tom’s suggestion as it was the movie that inspired me to want to visit in Tuscany, as is the case for many that enjoyed the popular “chick flick.” For a mere US $1.99 we’ll watch the almost two hour movie.

At 3:45 pm, our view from the veranda where we spend most of our lounging time.

While in Scottsdale, Arizona in November and December, 2012, as we prepared our final paperwork, we downloaded a few hundred movies on our two terabyte external hard drive, mainly to save for the nine month period we’ll be in Africa, here again with no TV and for other reasons, dangerous to go out at night. (Its hard to believe that in two months and twelve days we’ll be on our way to Kenya).

In Boveglio, one is wise not to travel the winding mountainous roads after dark, with no guardrails, no street lights and endless hairpin turns. When we dine out, we’ll make a point to return while still light, before 9:00 pm.

Tom will hardly be able to enjoy a few cocktails, since I don’t trust my driving skill to be the designated driver for such occasions and one wouldn’t dare drive the road after a few drinks. If I fussed over the dangerous road in Belize, it was nothing compared to the roads here. Nothing at all!

The view to our right.

I made Tom promise me that we’ll never drive on the scariest road in the world in Bolivia, listed as #1 in the top 25. (A few years ago, we watched a show about this dangerous road and it has stuck in my brain). See this link for the 25 scariest roads on the planet. Notice the two in Italy, very similar to the roads where we are located in Boveglio, Lucca, Tuscany.

The hazy view is not a photo taking issue. The vegetation produces massive amounts of humidity clearly visible in the far shots, although it is a bright sunny day.

Unquestionably, the long drive down has a bearing on how often we’ll venture out. Driving to Collodi yesterday certainly inspired us to grocery shop for two weeks at a time, planning any errands for the same time.

Yes, we do plan to do some exploring in other parts of Italy, but not as often as we’d originally hoped due to how far away we’re located. In any case, when we do travel, we’ll have to stay overnight in a hotel, adding an unplanned expense.

For the moment, we’re content staying put for the next few weeks after the last hectic two months since leaving Belize; hauling our heavy luggage, paying extra for our heavy luggage, waiting in lines, dealing with security, and on and on.

As we sit on the veranda writing, high above the roads, we’re find ourselves fully engaged in the view and the simple activities occurring below; the sound of a dog barking, the appearance of a tractor, a biker out for a hilly ride, a truck delivering goods and supplies and the endless chirping of birds.

Tomorrow, we’ll post the information about the flight we booked today from Venice, Italy to Mombasa, Kenya departing on September 2, 2013, a 17 plus hour journey with three plane changes. Plus we’ll share photos of the nuances, annoyances and obstacles we’ve encountered while living in 300 year old house.

Part 2 Venice…One more city knocked off our dream list….Also, update on our new home…

Posted by worldwide-admin on June 17, 2013 with 0 Comment

With the hot sun, the massive crowds, the going rate of $125 to $150 a couple and as evidenced here, the gondola traffic jam, we decided to forego the 30 minute ride in the clogged canals.

Today, we’ll post our remaining photos of Venice, first updating our current status which we’ll write about tomorrow in more detail, with much enthusiasm.

A simple doorway renovated for modern day.

We arrived in Boveglio, Lucca, Tuscany yesterday around 5:00 pm after a long and difficult drive from Venice, estimated by Google Maps to be a 3 1/2 hour drive which ultimately proved to be a 4 1/2 hour drive.

Another old door.

Reading road signs in Italy is different than reading road signs in the US. Its not about the language difference since there’s nothing to reading a word written in Italian, following a map. The difficult part was the fact that roads are not clearly marked. One can drive for a half hour before seeing a sign that confirms (or not) that one is on the correct highway.

Hard to resist. Fun to see.

Plus, there is considerably confusing maneuvering through small towns along the way to stay on the correct road. We only had to turn around twice, luckily catching it before we got too far.

Inside yet another square on our lengthy walk to St. Mark’s Basilica.

Thank goodness for Google Maps and our MiFi which worked great providing us with a good signal along the highway, during the last hour. The mountainous drive from Florence (Firenze) to Boveglio took us through 29 tunnels!

Inside the courtyard of the Universita Ca Foscari was a decoration made of trash.

The scenery inspired me to take photos but the massive guardrails prevented getting any good shots. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stop to take photos with no shoulder or rest stops on the many toll roads we traveled.

The Universita Ca Foscari entrance.

As for the rental car…I stood in line for one entire hour at the Budget Rental window inside the Marco Polo Airport while Tom waited outside with the luggage. Meeting a friendly couple from Chicago while in line, the wife was so kind to go outside to watch our luggage while Tom came inside to show his driver’s license.

Leonardo da Vinci exhibit was being held at the museum.

Tom will be the sole driver of the tiny Fiat six speed vehicle. I must admit I’m not the best driver (OK. I said it.). Although in an emergency, I could drive a stick shift but it has been 30 years since my last attempt. With the long drive “UP UP UP” to our summer home in Boveglio, with NO guardrails, no thank you.

More delectable looking confections.

We awaken this morning in a mountaintop paradise, the sound of nearby church bell chiming on the half hour and hour (not always consistent), in a 17th century renovated stone house in the true Tuscan style and we’re once again relishing in our unique surroundings, filled with contentment and joy.

Lots of activity.

Tomorrow, we’ll post photos, tell you the sacrifices we must make while here, missing some of our familiar creature comforts and the enhancements to our lives that only this step back in history can bring.

Water buses along the Grand Canal.

I’ll tell you one tidbit now…they don’t take credit cards in this area for gas, groceries or restaurants. Last night, starved after our long day, we found our way to the tiny town of Bennabio where the owner, Alessandro, of the town’s only restaurant Il Cavallino Bianco, opened an “account” for us, telling us we can pay our bill before we leave Boveglio in two and a half months.

As done in France, passersby over the Grand Canal at Ponte delle Accademia, place locks on

the bridge posts as a token of love, writing their names on the lock and throwing the key into the water.

Having used most of our Euros in the past month with no nearby bank and it also being Sunday, we appreciated not only a perfect meal (he cooked exactly following my restrictive diet) but speaking no English, we somehow managed to communicate.

This huge wood carving of a face was interesting.

During dinner, the owner of the local grocery store across the street from the restaurant stopped by to also extend credit to us for our time here. It certainly pays to know Lisa and Luca, the owners of our summer home, popular and well loved residents of this quaint community. More will follow tomorrow.

More buses on the waterway.

So here are our remaining photos of Venice, now almost seemingly a distant memory as we immerse ourselves in our new home, soon heading to the town of Benabbio to grocery shop in the tiny store owned by the lovely Vivienne. Photos to follow!

Here’s the rest of our Venice photos!

Sebastiano T. Italy location. Campo Santo Stefano.

Ah, here’s another pharmacy!

Ornate décor over doorways was appealing.

Many old apartments buildings lined the way to the square.

The food, feast for the eyes, let alone the palate.

Tight quarters. Lots of boats.

Statue of Marco Polo.

This was as close as we got to the gondolas.

A square we entered when trying to make our way to St. Mark’s visible in the background. We walked for two hours to get to St. Marks over many bridges, down many narrow streets.

More French looking than Italian, this window display of masquerade items was beautiful.

Murano glass figurines from a shop window.

Clock Tower.

Piazza of St. Mark…pretty impressive, eh?

Taking photos of people taking photos.

People and pigeons, everywhere.

Basillica di San Marco.

Tricky photo. Murano glass sailboats taken outside the store with the reflection of Piazza of St. Mark reflecting in the glass creating a cool backdrop.