IntrepidFromDC

This is the biggest room I've ever had in Venice, however I see a potential crisis as I open the bathroom door...

I notice people wearing boots. At high tide this morning, Piazza San Marco was 5 inches underwater.

Just off the train and through the portico I get my first glimpse of Magical Venice, the Canale Grande!

I mentioned early in my live review how much I love medieval cities and towns without cars. Venice was never affected by WWII or other things that lent a reason to plan the city over, so all the streets are the same as before America was discovered and only for people (and dogs). Approaching Venezia Stazione, this is the last car I'll see until I leave Italy.

From Bologna to Venice by train took almost 2 hours, although there is an express train that does the trip much faster. I enjoy the regional (more stops) train because it's used more by locals. It was nearly all farmland the first hour, also some ruins, then mountains for awhile. We stopped at 8 or so towns, but only one city most have heard of... Padua (Padova in Italian). Sometimes I get a kick out of only using the Italian words... Roma, Venezia, Firenze...

I understand before noon or after dinner are acceptable. Our tourguide did say never to order a cappuccino in the afternoon, that it is frowned on. Weird.

The kids were excited when the art teacher told them they were going on a field trip. Now they're muttering "great, I get to draw the same church I walk by every day."

Food! 2 fresh pasta makers, one human one machine. And a market and I see prosciutto! The map shows a few foods, showing which originated from which region of Italy.

A blacksmith hard at work in his shop.

Oldest university in Europe and the inside of the church I posted pics of the outside from yesterday. The bishop ordered the cathedral to be built bigger than St. Peter's in Rome. When the Pope found out he ordered the work to stop, so it remained unfinished and therefore a church, not a cathedral. The marble bottom and brick top show where the work stopped, it was planned to be all marble. Built around 1000AD. Also note the "Final Judgment" frescoe. This is how the devil was depicted 1000 years ago. On a stone to the right of the devil is the prophet Mohammed. Also zoom in on the Chinese restaurant and note Neptunes finger.

I wanna see this guy try to get out of his parking spot.

"I'm gonna pop some tags..." 80 degrees and this guy is wearing a fur coat at the thrift shop.

This building was built around 900. There's a legend about an arrow stuck in the portico. Legend says a man hired an assassin to kill his wife because she shamed him by having multiple lovers. The legend says he hired the best archer but as the archer took aim the wife saw him out the window and used her best weapon... she disrobed and the archer missed. Speculation about whether he missed on purpose. It's actually famous because everything, even the wooden beams, are believed to be original.

Dogs are even allowed inside fine dining ristorantes. I had an amazing tagliatelle (originated in Bologna) with fresh shaved truffle and a type of steak that is only female heffers 15-16 months of age. Both were fantastic!

Entrance to a park near city center, a canal in "little Venice", and a watchful dog.

Barilla pasta gets top shelf pricing at Safeway, but when I asked if it's popular in Italy, the cashier and a customer both gave thumbs down. Only earns bottom shelf in Bologna. I like the limoncello creme liqueur. They say you can eat the lemons from Sicily and Amalfi coast like you eat an orange, they're that sweet.

I was wondering too, I guess children didn't leave the home until they could climb? Maybe women were restricted too? Kinda like how in modern day, some Muslim countries don't allow women to drive or leave the house without a man?

All around the city you will see towers. The towers were built as protective and one-upsmanship by the very wealthy families during the middle ages, especially 100s and 1100s. One family tried to outdo the other in tower height. There were no doors or windows at ground level and the walls were up to 12 feet thick. To gain entry, a trusted servant would lower a ladder so the noble family could climb up to the door, several stories off the ground, then the ladder would be pulled back in. Archers awaited in the event bandits tried to ambush the family. One infamous Bolognese nobleman, Donaldo Trumpo, was infuriated when another family built a tower bigger than his just a year after completion of his as the biggest.

I enjoyed a great 2-hr walking tour and learned alot. Did you know that ghettos were not a *** invention, which is why it's not a German word? Ghettos were created in the 1600s by the Pope. All across most of what is now Italy, cities were directed to create ghettos and to force all Jewish people to live there. The goal was conversion. The ghettos were cramped with gates that were locked from dusk to dawn!

I had the prosciutto and Parmigiano-Reggiano in Parma and now the lasagna in Bologna. Yummy mission accomplished.