We Open In Venice....

Buona Sera! We've arrived in Venice, where we are enjoying the rattle of the windows during this thunderstorm that rolled in while we wandered the streets. Fortunately, we made it back here before it started pouring. If you've been keeping up, you are probably waiting for some pictures from Florence, so I will try not to disappoint. I'm mostly posting images that Lauren mentioned in her earlier post yesterday. Hope you enjoy them!
 

The Duomo (Cathedral), complete with Brunelleschi's Dome design

A copy of Michelangelo's David in its original location

The Ponte Vecchio (behind me)

The view from the Ponte Vecchio

Can't beat Italian Leather!

Inside the chapel at the Monastery...the seats used by the monks...a few centuries old, all original work. in the background are beautiful paintings of St. Bruno, including work by Da Vinci

Further inside the monastery. We saw two of the four monks still at the monastery, including the oldest monk at 94....who looked like he was in his 70s...

We detoured to Pisa...

...but after about 6 or 7 hours in the bus, we were starting to lose it a little bit.

Hope you enjoyed our pictures! Tomorrow we head out for a tour of a Venetian glass factory, then a walking tour of the Islands of Venice, then a ride in a Gondola, accompanied by musicians and a glass or two of Prosecco. Tomorrow night, dinner will be on the Grand Canal....There is no place like Venice. So far it is one of my favorite places.