Rain and Romance on our 2nd Day in Venice

Our second day in Venice started out dreary, with rain all morning, and a packed boat ride with most people standing. The rain quickly cleared up when we arrived on the island, and we walked around St. Mark’s Square for a bit. This was where we saw video cameras and security everywhere blocking people off from a certain area. There were two girls dressed in business suits in the middle of the square; I think they were actresses, waiting for their cue. We originally thought that it was just an Italian film, but later looked up the movie name we saw on the sign (“The Tourist”) and found out that it’s quite a big movie, starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. Too bad we didn’t see them, apparently Johnny Depp was filming that day! The one time I didn’t bother to take pictures too :P

After that, we took a boat over to the island of Murano, where they specialize in glass-making, which we got to see a demonstration of. We had quite a relaxing afternoon walking around the island, and finally got to enjoy some warm, sunny weather.

Upon return to St. Mark’s Square, we had dinner, then tried to navigate through the streets to find a gelato place that I read about on the Internet. Our GPS was actually quite helpful in the city, when it was able to get a signal. The gelato place took much longer than expected to find, but it was quite good, and had some really unique flavours. As we were finishing up, it began raining a bit, then suddenly started pouring rain! We escaped the rain for awhile in a sheltered area, and waited it out until it lightened up. Before long the sun was peeking out again, casting a pretty glow on the city. This picture was taken from the famous Rialto Bridge.

We were lucky that the rain lightened up, because it was our last night in Venice, and we didn’t want to leave without taking a gondola ride. We were the first to ride after the storm, right after the gondoliers dried out their boats. The canals were so calm and peaceful, and it was the perfect time to go, right at dusk. The ride was very romantic. By the time the ride was over, there were huge lineups at the gondola docks. Also on the gondola ride the gondolier pointed out the hotel where Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie were staying, which can cost €4,500 per night!
Overall Venice was a nice city and fun to walk around; a great start to our trip to Italy.