Venice

Several weeks ago I went on an overnight trip to Venice with women from the AWCA . It was a quick trip, but a lot of fun. While we were all having a 7€ (that's $10.50!) hot chocolate at Harry's Bar (one of Hemingway's old hang outs), one of the ladies mentioned that it would be a great if someone would write up a little article about the trip to put in the next issue of the ChitChat (the AWCA monthly magazine). Then there was an uncomfortable (at least for me) silence, so I volunteered. And now I'm glad I did.

Here's the article and picture that were published in the ChitChat (oh, and the mention of geese was a reference to a talk one of the members gave at a recent meeting) :

On March 11, seven AWCA members woke up very early and headed out for an overnight trip to Venice, Italy. Lynn Haenen, self-professed lover of all things Venice, generously planned the trip and Sharon Halls, Debbie Dams-Brown, Eva Gant, Lois McGivern, Stephanie Hasse and Melanyann Garvin jumped at the opportunity. Our cheap and quick flight (gotta love Ryan Air) delivered us to our destination at 8am and off we went. It was only a short walk to the hotel, but it wasn’t long before three geese fell out of formation to grab a scrumptious mid-morning pizza snack. After dropping our bags at the hotel, we set off to find St. Mark’s Square. But with 7 women, and no husbands to worry about, all were quickly distracted by the many treasures Venice has to offer, and intensive shopping ensued. By lunchtime, we hadn’t even made it over the Rialto Bridge, but decided to stop to refuel. We had a lovely lunch along the Grand Canal and were entertained by the flirtatious waiter who took a special liking to Debbie. We finally made it to Piazza San Marco by early afternoon where the flock split for a few hours. Some took in St. Mark’s Basilica and the breathtaking views of Santa Maria de la Salute while another group took a tour of Doge’s Palace and enjoyed a 7€ hot chocolate at Hemingway’s old hang out, Harry’s Bar. Despite phone troubles, the flock randomly reconnected along the major shopping street (no surprise there!). After closing down the shops, the ladies headed to dinner where the wine flowed and the laughs were abundant. We returned to the hotel quite late and everyone settled in for a short snooze before being up again early to catch our return flight. It was a fabulous trip – time to see a beautiful city and get to know fellow club members.

And here are a few more pictures of Venice....

A view of the Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge:

And, of course, a gondola:
The centerpiece of one the tables at the fish market:

The Ladies at the market:
St. Mark's Basilica was built in 1063! Supposedly the remains of St. Mark were brought here and put into the church that stood here previously. Then when the current church was being built, the remains were hidden to keep them safe. But it took so long to build the church, that by the time it was finished, no one could remember where they had hidden St. Mark. It wasn't until a nearby building was being demolished that the bones were finally found hidden in one of the buildings' columns! So St. Mark could finally rest in peace in his namesake church. It is a beautiful church with amazing mosaics inside and out.

This is Doge's Palace, where all the Dukes of Venice lived during their reign. We took a tour of the inside - very neat.

And here's the Bridge of Sighs, thusly called because it connects the Doge's Palace to the prison and prisoners would catch their last glimpse of Venice out of the windows (and sigh) as they went from the Palace where they received their sentence to the prison where they'd serve it.

A view from the Bridge of Sighs:
Here's Stephanie with her hand in this crazy guy's mouth - I forget his name. Anyway, back in the day, if you had suspicious info about a Venetian citizen, you could put it in here annonymously and then they would be questioned. I guess you'd better hope no one had a bone to pick with you and decided to do so by submitting a false accusation!

We had a lovely lunch along the Grand Canal:


ok, one down, like 17 to go!