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Jay Talking Travel: Venice, Italy

Welcome to Jay Talking Travel. I'm Bradley Jay and this is one evening in Venice. Let's depart from Monterosso by the sea to head across Italy to Venice.

Upon bursting through the St. Lucia train we get smacked by the Grand Canal. Gotta get right to the hotel but let us take a look at the canal from one of these bridges.

The walk from the train station to San Marco is about 45 minutes but the sights along the way make it a pleasure.

Travel involves a lot of time, stress, and expense, but images like these, this one moment, make it all worthwhile.

Ok, it's getting dark so I pick up the pace, searching for my hotel. I don't know much about the hotel, but the neighborhood is ritzy so I am hopeful. Ah, it's down an alley cornered by Armani. How bad can it be? Score. And it was only about $116 The room is small but very swank with upholstered walls.

Okay, here is St. Mark's square. The square itself is impressive due to size, but the real star it the church. I don't go in this trip, but on a previous Christmas Eve I was able to go in and watch the orchestra rehearse. For some reason, the place was empty then. The area seems much more crowded now.

It's late and I have to get up at three in the morning so it's back to the hotel. It turns out the hotel is deluxe which is important to me. It has a beautiful lounge and a little bar with just two seats. Since I am alone, it's nice to talk to the bartender, so I choose the bar.

I am a bit nervous about waking up at three and making it to the airport so I have just one beer.

Morning comes quickly, but I feel pretty well and the good news is that there is no one out and about. For about 30 minutes, Venice all mine and the walk to the water taxi is all too short. I want more. This is the view as I wait about a half an hour for the water taxi and contemplate the past six days.

The water taxi is on time and I am looking forward to the boat ride in the dark in Venice.

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