Day 9, continued

Here are some more pictures of our first full day in Venice. This was mainly our exploration day. They have 2 different modes of transportation that are used most often; the water taxi and water bus...the taxis are all old fashioned looking wooden boats and the water bus was more like a large pontoon boat. The taxis go wherever you want them to go and the water bus has specific routes and stops. The bus is what we mainly used. There was a stop right outside our hotel. So on our first full day, we rode the bus all the way up and down the canal. I can't begin to explain how pretty it was. It was just like the pictures you see, it was better than I imagined!

We also walked all over, ate gelato as a snack, and ate dinner in a piazza while "people watching." One thing we encountered in each city was "peddlers" selling different things like bags, kids toys, sunglasses, watches, hand made things, etc... When we were eating dinner on this night in one of the piazzas, there were several guys selling these glow in the dark helicopter sling shots. Once it got dark, it was actually kind of neat to see all of these lights spinning up into the air.
The piazzas always had restaurants all around them. Where we were eating, we had a great view of everything. There were several kids (whose parents bought them one of these helicopters) playing and running around in the middle of the square. Together with the peddlers, they were flying their helicopters and having the best time. It was so fun to watch. And the men selling the helicopters were so sweet to the kids! They kept helping them and showing them how to fly them higher. Wayne and I sat at our table drinking wine and watching the kids for the longest time.