Last stop: Venice

All good things must come to an end. You can't have unlimited food and free housekeeping forever, right? Everyone was pretty tired when we got back to Venice, but we decided to stay there for an extra day because we knew we'd probably never get back there again. It was bit touristy for my liking, but it was good to walk around and see how things worked. And, to reiterate what I said before, if you take a bus or a taxi, that means you're getting on a boat.

Lindsey got herself a mask that she loved.



Here's a parking lot in Venice:



With the ocean levels rising, Venice is flooding more and more often. This happens predictably according to the tides, so there are raised sidewalks to get people over the floods when necessary.





Here's the famous Rialto Bridge, which crosses the Grand Canal in the heart of Venice:



Here's a shot from the bridge. (I don't know why Lindsey looks like her dog just died. I think she was just tired.)



I wept openly that evening as I saw our cruise ship, the Spendour of the Seas, leaving Venice without me on board.



Here's a shot of St. Mark's Square, which is where the action is in Venice. Our hotel was just north of the Square. At night, different musical ensembles were playing at the different cafes, so we just wandered from one to the next to listen to the music. They were all very good musicians. It was pretty cool.

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And, of course, no European city can be considered truly great without this landmark:

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One parting shot:

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So that's the trip. We don't know what's coming next. We know that we need to hit London, and we also need to hit Disneyland Paris again (ugh), but beyond that, we're not sure when we're doing anything. Time to start planning the next trip. In the meantime, I'm headed to Minnesota on Monday, so I won't have much to say for a while.