Venice and Bologna Italy

Aaron had to go to Italy for work so we decided that I should tag along! We have always made an effort that once a year we would get away without the kids and we were long overdue. We left on a Friday and flew straight to Venice. We took a boat taxi to get to the island and as we were coming into the port I felt like I was coming into Stockholm. It looks similar in many ways!

The first night we ate at a nice little restaurant and enjoyed some risotto. Food was great!

There are no cars in Venice. It is all narrow walking streets and waterways.

So picturesque!

The Grand Canal which runs in the middle of Venice.

Aaron is standing in the Piazza San Marco with the bell tower behind him.

View from the top of the tower.

Gondolas on the Grand Canal.

We visited a glass factory, one of many on the island of Murano, next to Venice. This man was amazingly talented. The horse on the right is what he made in mere minutes.

On the island of Murano.

We would recommend our hotel to everyone. It was centrally located and nice and clean and had a nice breakfast! The only problem was that the english tv channel only played The Simpsons :)

Sunday afternoon we took a train to Bologna. It only took about an hour and 40 minutes. 

When we arrived to Bologna it was a very busy and bustling evening in the city. Our hotel was right in the middle of downtown so after dropping our bags off we walked around. Just down the street is the Piazza Maggiore where this large Christmas tree is standing.

This is also that same Piazza in the daytime. Looking at the Fountain of Neptune.

 Coming down one of the streets from Piazza Maggiore is the Due Torri, which translates to two towers. These medieval structures are the landmark of the city. 

The tower in the front is actually leaning. You can tell more in the photo below.

The taller tower is open for visitors to climb.

We climbed 498 steps!

Made it to the top. Nice view!

Coming down was sometimes tricky with its narrow steps.

Here and there you can still see reminders of ancient times. Above is a picture of an old gate to the city. There used to be a wall that surrounded the entire city and many of the gates still stand today.

An ancient roman aqueduct still in use today.

When we got back to the airport we discovered that our flight had been cancelled! There were no other flights that evening that we could switch to so the airline put us up in a hotel by the airport and then we flew home the following morning.