I forgot to mention that we didn’t eat before last night’s Grand Canal cruise. We disembarked about 9:30 pm, only to find that most restaurants in Venice (and it seems Italy) close between 9 and 10. Yelp to the rescue! We walked 10 minutes to a place that was open until 11, at which point we learned another valuable lesson: when you arrive an hour before closing and all tables are currently full, you will not get to eat. Figuring that we were skipping supper, we slogged back toward the vaporetto stop (turns out Venice has a ghetto, and we found it) and ran across a joint that was still open. We ate the Italian equivalent of gas station pizza. As Paul Harvey would say, And now you know the rest of the story.
We rolled out of our hotel at the crack of 11 this morning (I blame the wine used to wash down the pizza) and headed to St. Mark’s Square.
We toured the basilica (no photography, so here are some stock photos). The interior is designed in the Byzantine style, based on the Greek cross. The walls and ceiling are covered in gold glass tesserae mosaics (no I didn’t know any of this 2 days ago, and yes, I stole it from another web page).
We finally made it to the top of a tower! St. Mark’s Campanile provided great view of Venice (thankfully the bells didn’t ring while we were up there):
This afternoon we headed to Milan by train. We ate dinner in the hotel, wrote this post, and are headed to bed early – two more sleeps until motorcycle! 🙂
Rolling On Two 
Such an amazing adventure Kevin and Stephanie ! a trip of a life time for sure 🙂 thanks for sharing ! awesome photos, love the architecture, I enjoy your narrative. you guys look great –looking forward to when you roll on two ! be safe, love Don & Suz
LikeLike
Restaurants are closed by 10pm? Wow! Clara still wants you to eat tortellini and send her a picture. Or send her a pic of someone else’s tortellini. She’s convinced Italians must eat tortellini every day, because why wouldn’t they? Just don’t eat tortellini in the Italian ghetto! Your selfies are my favorite pictures.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Tortillini is next week – it’s from the Emilia-Romagna region. Bologna is the capital, and we plan to stay there a few days (Ferrari museum and Ducati factory for me, tortillini for Stephanie).
LikeLike
If there was no gas station pizza, this would be a vacation not an adventure. Enjoy the adventure.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a great trip you two are on. Love the pictures and love your stories. Leave it to you guys to find the ghetto!! Love you guys.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hey it’s an adventure! You’ll probably end up more good food than bad & wine makes anything better or at least more tolerable. St Marks is indeed impressive! Good luck in Milano! Keep the blog coming.
LikeLiked by 1 person
If I said that I was mad at both of you, it would be true. But then I would have to admit that I am more jealous than mad. I hope you two kids have a wonderful time and the trip of a lifetime!! Careful of the wine.
LikeLiked by 1 person