We've been busy. And without an internet connection. Last time I posted, we were in our hotel room in Murano and had a really crappy wireless connection. (FYI: Murano is the city of glass. Glass makers in Murano apprentice for 15 years before they can go their own way, and in the early history of the city, any glass makers who attempted to leave the island were given two chances: after the first escape attempt, they had all of their equipment taken, and after the second attempt, they were killed. They are pretty crazy with the glass making, but they do some some pretty amazing things made out of glass.) I've uploaded some pictures from Venice/Murano and some of the pics from the Amalfi coast. I mentioned that Venice is the most beautiful city on earth...well...the Costiera Amalfitano is definatly the most beautiful place. It was about 30+ degrees. The coast is a beautiful array of jagged rocks with tree's and lemon gardens (they grow lemons there that are about the size of a football). Each morning, as the fog lifts, it hovers around the tops of the cliffs for a couple hours. Oh, and the bus ride to Amalfi from Salerno was INSANE. At some points of the road, there is only a single lane for traffic, even though there is traffic going both ways. Have you ever seen a hairpin turn? Well thats nothing. This bus driver was taking hairpin turns on the side of the cliff going about 60 kilometers per hour with traffic coming the other way. It took over an hour to go 30 kilometers, and the bus was honking the horn the entire way. It was almost like a roller coaster ride. Anyways, our hotel room at the Hotel Tritone (one of the only 4 star hotels in the area) was awesome. Biggest balcony I've ever seen, and an amazing view. Darren went swimming in the Mediterranian, while I sat on the deck and drank beer (the Italians actually make some pretty decent stuff, just as good as any beer from Canada that I've had). Anyways, here some pics.
Me standing in Piazza San Marco in front of San Marco's Basilica.
The Ala Napoleonica in Piazza San Marco, with the sun shining right at its point. We went to the top of this tower later on to get a good view of the city and the square.
Darren is obsessed with gryphons.
These guys were playing classical music with crystal glasses. The guy on the right was doing the bass and the guy on the left was doing the melody.
The south enterance of the grand canal in Venice.
The Basilica della Salute at the southern tip of the south enterance of the grand canal.
The Basilica's of San Marco's church.
A view of Piazza San Marco from the top of the Ala Napoleonica. Notice the pidgeons all over the place.
I paid 1 euro for a bag of corn and had birds all over me. Some chick yelled something at me about bird flu.
The most famous bridge in Venice - The Rialto bridge on the grand canal.
Another shot of some buildings along the grand canal. We were given wine to drink while on the boat and I'm pretty sure the driver was drunk. There's boats driving all over the place and almost everyone has beer in hand. We drove past some famous buildings along the canal (for example, the house that Richard Wagner lived in until he died).
The town of Amalfi. We didn't get to do much here, because we arrived here late and had to get to our hotel in Praiano, which is 10 kilometers away.
A view of the town of Praiano from our balcony.
Some of the cliffs by our hotel.
Darren on the beach.
View of our hotel from the beach (it was a private beach).
Darren swimming in the sea.
View of the beach.
many people have gardens built on the cliffs in the form of steppes. This garden was full of flowers, herbs, stupid dogs, and a rooster that went cock-a-doodle-do ALL day, every day. You could hear it from miles away.
A view of our hotel room from some random point on the road.
A lemon farm with some cliffs in the background.
Another view of Praiano.
