Venice - 45° 26' 02" N 12° 20' 06"

Backstreet? Back canal?

We stepped of the train at Venice's Santa Lucia railway station and indeed, the streets are actually water! The station over looks the Canal Grande and the impressive San Simeone Piccolo. Venice is one of the few cities in which bikes are not allowed. Our tired legs were thankful and with the narrow streets and many bridges, we understand why!

Venice, we determined, is rather crumbly and in need of a good pressure-wash but what a beautiful place. We skipped the gondola ride but hit most of the major sights, we ate some of the best pasta either of us have ever eaten and joined the hundreds of other tourists in aimless wandering and endless gawking. We loved the architecture, the history, the canals (of course), the narrow streets.... We toured the Teatro La Fenice which was amazing and wandered around the Vivaldi museum filled with wonderful instruments. We discovered that they believe Vivaldi's Four Seasons to be the most played classical piece, far exceeding the second most played, Symphony No. 9 by Beethoven.

We bid arrivederci to Gord and Jenny and helped lugging their bike boxes to the airport bus. Great travel buddies..... We, in turn, lugged our bikes in boxes to the train and headed to Milan!