Day 2 in Venice

It was good to finally get a full nights sleep. As expected, we both woke up before daylight. Having been here before and missing real American coffee, the Bellini Bunch (apartment gang’s nickname) decided months ago as soon as we booked the apartment to order a 220 volt European coffee maker to take with us, so Tim made a pot of Starbucks coffee first thing this morning :)  Tim, Charlene and myself went out to a bakery and got a couple sacks full of pastries and small proscuitto biscuit-like things for breakfast. The 10 of us had a leisurely morning enjoying each others company and breakfast then Jim & Jane along with Harry & Judi decided to attend Mass at St Marks Basilica while Tim, Joy, Charlene and Donna went to the Billa grocery store. It is another beautiful day here and short sleeve shirts and capris or jeans either feel good, no need for jackets. After we all got back we decided to visit the Jewish Ghetto section of Venice and had a lovely afternoon wondering around a Venetian neighborhood without all the crowds of the touristy areas. We found a great gelato stop and enjoyed our daily fix. While riding the water taxi we decided to detour and visit San Giorgio Maggiore Basilica on the island facing St Mark’s Square. It is a very lovely basilica with an elevator to the top of the bell tower and magnificent views. While we were standing beside the bells they rang and thank goodness it was only 5 rings! We then found a restaurant along the Grand Canal a little ways past St Mark’s and had a lovely dinner while watching the sunset and a parade of cruise ships leaving Venice—at least 5 of them. It was a great day!