Venice....where I met my Penpal Part One

We were met off the train from Milan to Venice by my lovely friend/penpal and her hubby.  They had flown in that day at lunch time.  We arrived in the evening.  We have been writing to each other since high school.  So slightly more than 30 years. :-0

It was amazing to finally get the chance to meet each other and each other's family.  We got on well and it was like we had known each other a long time...which we have.

Well the above photo is one of the first shops I saw in Venice.......a book shop.  Heaven.  There were so many book shops....the few that I did see with presses seemed to at Siesta time so never got to see the binder.

Christmas decs....aren't they so pretty.

A fantastic shot taken by my penpals husband.   There are mask shops everywhere.  We would have loved to buy lots but the price of some did keep us at bay also trying to carry them home factored into it too.  Our daughter did buy one without so much detail and carried it all the way home....it made it in one piece.

Some very different masks we spied.

Yes, glass everywhere.  Absolutely stunning.  Amazing artists.  We did find a small shop with a glassblower working.  So we bought all our glass momentos from there.  

More stunning glass work.

These types of clocks were for sale everywhere too....aren't they amazing.

Friends hubby took this photo... I had to share.

Firstly the pizza's look so yummy and are huge....plus like the way the coke ad is in the centre.

This is the Rioalto Bridge completed in 1591.  The original bridge was made of wood and a full time maintenance job so they reconstructed it in stone.

This is where we spent our three nights in Venice

Hotel Rialto.  Very nice...old, but nice.  We were lucky and on the second floor.  Our poor friends must have looked very healthy and fit as they were right up the top which meant lots of flights of stairs.

These yellow street signs are what we followed everywhere.  

A canal and a gondala.  We are in Venice. :-)

St Mark's Square.  The things that look like stacks of tables are actually the platforms they put out when they are have a high tide or flooded.  No didn't see any flooding while we were there.

These are all the gondola's a long the front of St Mark's Square.