wakooltravelblog: Venice

We had a few days in Venice to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary - it truly is a magical place and we loved it.

A glass hot air balloon that looks a lot like ChiChi :-)

It was bitterly cold in Venice (sadly no snow though), but the people were super friendly

We were upgraded to a suite!!!! The room had a dining table, lounge room, bedroom and massive marble bathroom. It was bigger than the apartment we stayed in in Paris, and more luxurious than anywhere we have stayed.

On the balcony of our suite!!! Yup, life is pretty good :-)

The view from our room

We were lucky to be in Venice for the first few days of Carnivale. There were people walking around in masks and costumes, which made for a really fun atmosphere. This photo is the parade of rowing club boats down the grand canal (we are standing next to the Rialto bridge). All the clubs dress up in costume and call out to the crowd - it was heaps of fun.

The front door of the Ai Reali hotel (there is another around the corner off the piazza). The white balcony on the first floor is actually our room :-)

The Aqua Alta flooded the piazza and the water came up over the doorstep. In Venice they are very prepared for this, with alarms and bells sounding the impending flood well in advance and most buildings have steel barriers for the doors to keep the water out. We couldn't leave the hotel, oh what a shame, we'll just have to spend some time lazing about in our suite then!!!

The flooding at the front door of the hotel

Sketching the canal

In the hotel swimming pool :-)

This is the bridge over the canal that our hotel was on.

Traffic Jam, Venitian style

When the Aqua Alta brings flooding in Venice the city puts out what looks like tables that all join together to create a raised pathway. This gentleman is walking along the raised pathway near the Academia Bridge.