Venice

I was reassigned to Larissa, Greece for two years. Synthia wanted to see more of Italy before we left. Normally I would have 6-9 months advance notice, but this time I only had one month to prepare. So we spent three of our last four weekends traveling. The first weekend, Nov. 9th, we went to Venice for the day and then stayed the night in Mestre. The next morning we drove to Pisa.

A gondola traffic jam in one of the smaller canals off of the Grand Canal.

The Grand Canal viewed from Piazzale Roma.

A couple enjoys a gondola ride in the Grand Canal.

Gondolas afloat in the San Marco Canal. In the background you can see the church of San Giorgio Maggiore.

St. Mark's Basilica was commissioned in 829 by Doge Giustiniano Partecipazio as a fitting place to preserve the mortal remains of St. Mark the Evangelist, who had become the sole patron saint of the city.

Time to stop and rest after a day of shopping in Venice. As you can see Synthia has one of many bags of goods that we bought throughout Venice.