a train to Venice.

Friday morning, we lugged our luggage from our hotel over to the train station in Florence. We waited for 9404, a speed train from Florence to Venice. Two hours later, we were crossing the lagoon into the Venice train station. Here are a few pics of that trek:

2 of the 17 boarding walkways at the Florence train station

waiting for the train

taking a nap on the train ride

the trees lean at 120 mph

our 1st view of Venice

So, we got to the train station, got our luggage off, and headed out front to catch a water taxi to the hotel. This was our 1st view of Venice above.

Following are pics from the rest of the day. We got to our hotel, grabbed a quick sandwich at the cafe next door, and met up with our guide. She took us through the city streets to St. Mark’s square where we were amazed by the size as well as the art of St. Mark’s Cathedral. You will see it in the pics. The mosaics showed the patience and creativity of the artists of old. That is a dying art, one that needs to live on.

Anyway – learning and seeing a lot. Hoping to post more thoughts. Meantime, here are some pics from the walk around Venice our 1st day here (yesterday), all taken with my iPhone if you can believe it.