love, lowry: May 2010

Day 7

Venice

We started the day off with a delicious breakfast at our hotel. After breakfast we headed out to explore! We enjoyed hanging out on the rialto bridge and watching all the life on the water. Then we did a little shopping as we made our way over to the Bridge of Sighs, which was pretty disappointing. The bridge is a beautiful covered bridge made of white limestone. It has windows with stone bars and through that window, convicts in the 16th century, had their last view of Venice before imprisonment. It is really an impressive bridge. Like many historic things in Europe, they had to do some restoration on the bridge. Unfortunately, the only way to pay for this work was by what you'll see below. After the Bridge, we had a private tour of the island by boat! It was FABULOUS! We all loved being on the water with a local and getting to see things we couldn't have any other way. Our driver took us to the most amazing gelato place EVER! It was so so yummy....sorry, my mouth is watering! When we finished up on the boat we walked over to Piazza San Marco and saw the bell tower, Basilica and Doge's Palace. Rob got close with some of the famous pigeons and I was not a fan! We shopped and shopped some more then we shopped and had yummy pizza for dinner! After dinner Rob went to bed and Grandma and I snuck out to......wellllllll...SHOP! Yep, at eleven o'clock at night, we were shopping! Man I love Venice!

Rialto Bridge

Look at the busy canal!

Shopping!

That little bridge, surrounded by junk, thats the Bridge of Sighs. SAD! Look at the ugly billboard advertising! Guess we'll just have to go back!

On the boat!

We passed the gondola making place!

Handsome hubby!

This city is so charming!

Gross! Pigeons!

Love the gondolas!

Typical life!

The streets are not very wide...

Enjoying the view!

So relaxing!

Rob couldn't stand it anymore, he had to go in!

Doesn't get much better!

I love all these little vendors!

Piazza San Marco

Bell tower

I have a little crush on the lamps in Venice! Adorable, right?

Detail of the Basilica

Venice is just as pretty at night!

Day 6

Paris/ Venice

Today was our last day in Paris so we packed it with all we could! This first thing we did was take the metro over to the latin quarter. We stopped for yummy crepes for breakfast right in front of the Notre Dame. After breakfast we hoped in line to go to the top of the bell tower at the Notre Dame. None of us had ever done this and we were all so glad we did! It was such a fun experience to hike up to the top and see the 17th century bell! It was pretty tiring, there were 387 steps and no stops! It was a good thing we had G-ma showing us how it was done! The views at the top were amazing and it was really cool to have an up close view of the gargoyles. After we hiked back down the tower, we went inside the Cathedral and took in the beautiful stained glass Notre Dame is so famous for. The detail, inside and out of the cathedral, truly amazes me. When we were finished there we took the metro over to see the Sacred-Heart Basilica of Montmarte, Sacre Coeur. It was so gorgeous! The basilica is set on a hill, the highest point in the city and looks over the city. The grounds were landscaped so beautifully as well. There were people all around enjoying some live music and lovely weather. We walked around a bit and then headed over to see the Moulin Rouge! It was fun to see the famous red windmill but we didn't see the show. Although it is a topless show, I will say that it is very classy! I saw the show on my first trip and it was sooo fun to see the real can-can live! We finished our quick stop at the Moulin Rouge and went to check out of the hotel and head to Venice! We took a short flight from Paris and before we knew it, we were in Venice!!! We arrived in the evening and had a private water taxi to our fabulous hotel. We stayed at Hotel Rialto, which was right on the canal in front of the rialto bridge! We had some gelato and pizza in our room where we enjoyed the view!