Back to Venice

 Wr have come full circle and returned to Venice.  This time we did the usual tourist sights ( St. Marks, etc.) that we did not do 2 weeks ago.  We arrived in large downpour but the weather cleared up after we got to the hotel.  We have been very fortunate to have great weather this whole trip.  The combination of the full moon, high tide and rain gave us a chance to see what happens when Venice floods.

We have really had a wonderful trip and enjoyed every minute.

Florence

 Here we all are on the Vecchio Bridge.  This is the bridge of the gold and silver sellers.

 The River Arno

 The Santa Croce church where Michelangelo and Galileo are buried.

The Duomo

Siena and Florence

 Today we spent a couple of hours in Siena on our drive to Florence.  It was a beautiful church.

 Just some small doors into the church in Siena.

 This is the view from the roof of our hotel in Florence into the Santa Maria Novella Plaza and church of the same name.

 

This is the Duomo Santa Maria del Fiore of Florence.  Incredible.....

On our own in Rome

 Today we had a free day to wander in Rome.  Here is Andy at the Trevi fountain.

 The Pantheon, the largest dome in the world.

 A court yard we walked by.

The Tiber River on our way back to the hotel.  Probably added 3 to 4 more miles to our trip.



Rome

 We have arrived in Rome and met up with our friends Bill & Maureen.  Here we are in St. Peter's Square.

 Monday we toured with a private guide the Colosseum and ancient Rome and then on to the Vatican and related buildings (Sistine Chapel, etc.)  We walked for 7 straight hours.

St. Peter's Basilica

Montova

 Friday was our last day of biking.  We did a round trip outside of the city and in the afternoon did a city tour.  This is a beautiful small city.  Lots of water birds swans and egrets.  These swans were right in the harbor with us.

The area suffered an earthquake last year and lots of repairs are going on.  Today we start on the next part of our trip.  One more day here and then on to Rome.

Biking in the rain....

 After three days of biking in the bright sunshine we came home last night to rain.  We cut back to 30 km today.

This was our lunch spot.

Adria to Zelo

 Our biking day consisted of traveling along the bike trail of the Po River past small farms.  This wall is the medival fortress of Ferarra and the other picture is the road into town.  We had a tour of the city during our lunch hour.

We have a great group of people with us.  There are 9 from England, 2 from Holland, 2 from Germany, 2 from Canada and the four of us from the US.  Very compatable group.

Chioggia to Adria

 We are getting ready to leave Chioggia and ride through the wetlands.

A break in riding to dip our feet in the Adriac Sea.

Venice to Chioggia

 Here we are gathering to begin our bike ride on the Lido that seperates the Venice Lagoon from the sea.  We went 30 km to Chioggia on a beautiful day along the island.  We then took a ferry and ended up on Chioggia island.

Venice, Italy

 This is the front of our boat that we wil be staying on after biking each day.

 We also went to Murano this afternoon.  The glass shops were so interesting.


 This is our ship.

Today is Assencion Day in Venice and there was a boat regatta.