September 11th Memorial Blood Drive

Today I participated in the September 11th Memorial Blood drive held by the US Embassy and the Hungarian Red Cross.  It's things like this that make you feel still close to home even though you are so far away. Even Starbucks was there so things were not too different, except for maybe the alcohol free beer they had for refreshments!

Dogs - Venice

I thought given the almost complete lack of green space on Venice that there would be very few dogs to be seen, but I was wrong.  I only got a couple of pictures of dogs but we saw them all over the place.  I guess wherever people go, so does man's best friend.

Winged Lion - Venice

 

I took kind of a likin to the winged lion you can see all over Venice. It's St. Mark's symbol and he is the patron saint of the city so it is also used as the symbol of the city.  During times of peace the Lion has an open copy of the Bible under one paw and during times of war he has a sword and the Bible is closed.  I didn't see many cases of the the sword carrying lion so I'll have to look harder next time.

Murano Glass - Venice

Venice and the island of Murano are famous for their glass so on Saturday our hotel arranged for us to take a water taxi over to Murano to go to one of glass factories for a demonstration.  It was pretty amazing to watch this guy at work, he made a vase and a horse in ten minutes maybe.  After his demonstration we did some shopping and then headed back by water bus.  If you go to Venice you should really check out the island of Murano.

Regata Storica - Venice

As luck would have it we were there for the Regata Storica.  From what I understand this is the big event of the rowing calender in Venice.  It starts with a procession of old style boats commemorating the reception given to Caterina Cornaro, wife of the King of Cyprus, in 1489 after she renounced her throne in favor of Venice.  It was really cool to see all of the ornate boats and all  of the people dressed in period costumes.  It was followed by races down the grand canal. 

Venice - Simply Amazing!

We visited Venice over the long weekend and it really is an amazing city.  I don't think pictures (certainly not mine) really do it justice.  The combination of history, architecture, the canals and more just make it a truly unique city.  Of all the places I've ever traveled to, I think that Venice would be the one place that I would tell everyone they have to go see, just so unique and amazing.  Much more on Venice later!