Arrivederci Venice

Well the holiday has come to an end and I'm back in Ireland after spending hours travelling - first dragging the bags from the hotel, then wandering about on the water bus, waiting in line to pass through security in the airport (where the woman in front of me turned and said 'You have beautiful eyes') on the airport and then getting back to the car in Dublin. It was late when we got home, but our trip went smoothly. I feel as if we never left Ireland at all and just spent a really long day at the airport. Our last morning in Venice was good, if wet. I fed the pigeons again and our favourite restaurant once more tried to ply us with free drink to thank us for our patronage. Pity neither the Mater or I drink alcohol. Anyway, now that I am home again I can up load my photos of the city on the lagoon, so here they are.

Our view from the hotel. We were on the fourth floor but our room number was 301! This photo was taken on our first day when it was lashing with rain, but of course it doesn't show up on the camera! I would have to have added milk to the rain so you could see it - like in Singing in the Rain. As I didn't do this, you have to take my word for it.
Here is St. Mark's Square on Tuesday when it flooded. The water is partly the rain and partly the high tide, but it is all wet. As you can see people have shed shoes and rolled up trousers to get through the deluge. Some people even had to lug luggage (just saw the connection there!) from the water bus (or vaperetto) terminus all the way through the wet to get to their hotels. Venice is a beautiful city, but I was so cold and wet on Tuesday that I don't think I would have enjoyed the trip so much if the bad weather had kept up. Also, it is very hard trying to hold an umbrella for two while walking down the narrow venetian streets. A mack in a sack will be with me on all future trips.
Here is the Mater outside St. Mark's on Wednesday. That funny thing she appears to be wearing on her head is in fact a street vendors stall in the background.
Here I am striking a pose in the piazza.
Wednesday turned out to be really warm and sunny. St. Mark's Square still flooded at high tide, but it actually was quite nice paddling through it to get to the gondola. This pic was taken from the gondola (aka scary form of transport) as we pulled out of the gondola station. The Mater beside the stone lions that guard St. Mark's Basilica.

The Mater again posing in front of one of the massive doors into St. Marks. Note the beautiful decoration over the door.One of the many beautiful views in the city. This is just one of the little canals that wind through Venice. I took this photo from a bridge on the way to Rialto. Note the gondola.A view of the Grand Canal from Rialto. Think of this as Venice's high street. I would have liked to have spent more time exploring the Rialto market and the streets along the Grand Canal. Here I am feeding the pigeons for the second time. I look very worried, I don't know why. It certainly wasn't because of the birds. It is a pity I didn't get a picture of the pigeons sitting on my shoulder (I so felt like Long John Silver) or when I had them in both hands. There were too girls taking pictures of me with them so maybe I should have asked them for a copy? There were street vendors selling bread to feed the pigeons (think Mary Poppins' bird lady in Italian) and there was a man (he looked like he was in a kilt but I think it was just tartan trousers) sitting on the ground covered in pigeons. He had two birds clasped in his hands and he was throwing them at his friends. This was all in the rain. It is a hard life for a venetian pigeon.