Trip to Italy, 2007

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We arrived at our hotel in Venice, the Albatross. It was a nice hotel in Marghera, the town on the main land adjacent to Venice proper. There is a highway and rail line that go all the way to Venice. On our first day there the bus took us to Venice, but then we took a water bus to St. Marco's Square. I was confused because I didn't know you could just walk to the main bus and rail station on Venice (and not that long a walk, either) and the city buses went from there to right past our hotel (right past is much better than close to as it is much easier to know when to get off). There is a pretty pricey water bus that is for tourists and runs along the main canal. Above is the tourist water taxi. People who work in Venice and commute (which would be most everyone who works there) take water buses that run from the main bus / train station around the outside of the islands and have a monthly fare (I presume as they didn't list fares anywhere). Here and below are the sort of water buses we took to St. Marco Square. It went around the outside of the islands, too, and led me to believe that you couldn't just walk to the main bus station.	=0=
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The water bus left us off a short walk away from St. Marco Square. Venice is really a lot of separate islands with buildings going up to the very edge of each island and the 'canals' as the ocean / bay between the islands. Above on the right you can see Sabina holder up her flower so that we could follow her to meet our local guide. Below is the Venetian who was our tour guide (short, white hair) along with Sabina.	=0=
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The 'streets' in Venice were REALLY narrow as you can see above. Also above is the bridge which joined the old court of justice on the right to the old jail. It is called the Bridge of Sighs as they would take convicted criminals across it to meet their fate. Here and below are sights from St. Marco Square. The tower had to be rebuilt recently and the guide commented that the original tower stood for a thousand years, but that they were already having problems with the replacement.	=0=
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