"Bonjorno" from Venice

We thought it might be time to share a few more images from Danni's trip to Europe. This is the Grand Canal in Venice where we arrived on a cold, wet and rainy day. It did not matter. The beauty of this unique city came through anyway.

Even in the rain the tours of the canals with their Gondoliers are magical.

These bridges link all the areas together. There are no cars and everything has to come in by boat. Men walk huge carts filled with goods all over the city to hand deliver the items to the shops, restaurants and markets.

This city is amazing. Everyone gets lost on their first day here. Ours was no exception. We were told how to navigate all the alleys and walkways by looking above the first story on the corners of the buildings with the arrows pointing towards the direction of the different landmarks. After that it was like reading the stars on a clear night. We never got lost again.

These unfinished masks originate in Venice.  They are then painted and decorated quite colorfully. Each one was meant for a different purpose. The long beaked mask was for the doctor. They would put garlic in the long portion. The plain, squared eyed, scary looking one in the middle was for the gamblers so no one could see their facial expressions. Dare we say poker face?

The Island of Murano is close to Venice where they produce the Murano glass. There were huge chandeliers in almost every store  along with many other beautiful glass creations that come from the island.

The open markets along the canals were so much fun, delicious and lovely to look at too.

Just had to include the Disney store in Venice with the Italian flag colored bags of Mickey Mouse.  Danni's daughter works for the Disney company.  It seemed so out of place to see Disney in Europe too.

We have always loved the Fortuny patterns. This shop had pillows, scarves, purses and of course the chandeliers and lamps.

The chandeliers at this Fortuny store in Venice were beautiful. Wish we had brought one home.

Venice was wonderful, Ciao!!!

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