Northern Italy and Venice

After our time in Austria, we made our way south to enter into Italy. Here's some shots of the northern Italian landscape we drove through. 

 

Most of the farmable land is being used for what I assume to be olives or grapes. This seems to be a good decision. 

On a boat headed towards Venice. 

On the small islands!

Wandered down a random alley. Then water. This happens a lot. 

Walking over a small bridge. 

Residences. 

This is actually a really tight corner. The pano made Josh a bit thinner. 

I thought the algae looked great here. 

Basilica di San Marco

Bell Tower. 

Went to the top of the bell tower and took these next series of pics of Venice.  

St. Mark's Square

Some other notes:

We broke away from our tour group to wander the city, find Bellini's, local pizza, and of course, gelato. All finds were great successes. As a matter of strict principle, I don't take photos of food so you'll have to trust me. 

Also, we decided not to do a gondola ride. Mistake? Perhaps, but the city smelled quite awful. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they dump waste into the canals so I'm not overly disappointed. 

Later in the evening we had a four course Italian meal at one of the local Venician restaurants. All the pasta dishes were delicious and we all were sufficiently stuffed by the end of the evening.  

Now onto Roma!