Venice, day 1

The flight from Philly to Venice was uneventful, and arrived at 8:40 this morning, after flying through the night, about 20 minutes ahead of schedule.  I thought it was going to be a 9 hour flight, but I was wrong, and it was only 7 hours 45 minutes.  Here we are, shortly after takeoff.  My sister Mindy and her boyfriend Nate are seated directly behind us.

After we got through the passport check at the airport in Venice, it was a 50 minute boat ride to our hotel:

Mindy and Nate:

And we checked into the hotel at about 10:30 am.  Here's our room:

We got cleaned up and changed, then started wandering about to look for lunch.

Dogs are popular companions in Venice:

Here's my favorite photo from the day - a child chases a bubble in a piazza:

After lunch, we rested in our hotel rooms for a couple hours, and then walked to St. Mark's square, and up to the top of the bell tower for the views:

Followed that with more wandering, then drinks at a small bar, then dinner at the same restaurant where Jenae and I had our very first meal in Italy 4 years ago, at Osteria Antico Giardinetto.  Mussels, grilled vegetables, panda cotta, and more:

Now it's 11:30 here, so time for bed.  Tomorrow, museums, churches, more wine!