Italy 2004 - Venice

We got to Venice at dawn after a very long train ride on which we met an Indian New Yorker who had an appointment with the Pope but was visiting Venice for 3 hours to see the boats. We're glad we had more time.

Sunrise on San Marco square	Totally different at this hour from the tourist zoo it becomes later.
We bought the best peaches we have ever eaten at the Rialto fruit market, before it really opened. In Italy, you aren't allowed to touch the produce
This is a different fuit boat, the next day after we mercifully found a hotel, showered and napped. It wasn't really the next day; it was just after our siesta. Siestas made it feel like we had twice as many days	The hotel was in the same neighborhood as where the Scholls stayed, to which we returned because of the pedestrian culture. The hotel was run by a family. The grandmother spoke no English but scolded us, in a friendly way, at length.
Our view. The son of the family liked the timelapse from Rome and helped us make one of the canal from their window.
Some Venetian blinds. These were across the street from the cafe where we learned to order apertifs
Yelling and gesturing gondoliers. It seemed like bad blood until they hugged a second after this picture.