Onto to Venice

We left the haunted hotel early, thank goodness, to get through Milan before traffic snarls. We headed towards Venice. We had to make a few detours because of protest demonstrations which closed highways. Good grief! We eventually made it to port where we took our watertaxi to the island of Venice. Whoa, Venice. The next biggest thing on our tour. G was amazed. If you ever go here, don't drink too much - going to the washroom costs you 1 euro 50. Yikes! Do you know how many times people over 50 have to go?
We made our way to St. Mark's square to visit St. Mark's Cathedral. It is still amazing and unchanged after all this time. We went in and, still, it is so awe inspiring that there is no need to speak. The church is filled with miniscule-sized mosaic tiles to create many pictures that cover every surface. The floors, of course, still flow in ocean wave highs and lows. As you walk, you need to watch the floor. This is a good thing because the floor is totally covered in tiled patterns that amaze. It reminds me of M.C. Escher and his mathematical drawings where the eyes are tricked with illusions. The floor is as beautiful as the ceiling.
G and I - spent so much money GOING that we decided to just walk and get lost for awhile. Easy to do with all the little channels and small alleys. We found many bridges to walk over the canals.
Later on, we took a gondola ride. We had an accordianist and an Italian singer on the gondola with us serenading our group. How lucky were the two of us to not have to share this ride with anyone. The others were all squished into a gondola - 6 per boat. G and I just had two men. Jo and three men - what could be better!
Our hotel this night was a scream. We went up as usual and G tried to go to the washroom. When he sat on the toilet, it was as if his knees were under his chin and he would have had to be a contortionist for it to work. We took a picture - he couldn't stop laughing. Needless to say, we changed rooms.
Toilets seem to be an important part of our history lately.