Wednesday is over here in Venezia and that means only two days remain.  Time has flown by.

This morning we toured the Ca’Rezzonico, a former palace built on the Grand Canal.  It was built by the Rezzonico family to house distinguished guests in Venice.  The building has been turned into a museum focusing on Venetian life in the 18th century.  We saw the rooms of the mansion and the attic, which has been turned into an art exhibit.  It was a very relaxing museum and I was glad to have seen it.

A group of us then headed for lunch, where we got a slice of pizza before heading back to the hotel.  We then watched a film called “Dangerous Beauty” about Venetian prostitutes.  It was based off the real life memoirs of writer and former prostitute Veronica Franco in the early days of Venice.

Following the film I went out and found postcards and searched for a tobacco shop to purchase stamps.  During this, the button to my khaki’s fell off, so now I have lost a button and a filling for my tooth! How lucky am I!

Our group then went to the Hard Rock Cafe for a large group meal.  I had the Tennessee BBQ Ribs and they were great.  Our waitress kept referring to our table as America and we soon found out she had relatives in Florida.  The funny thing was her relatives lived in Daytona Beach.  For those of you who don’t know, Daytona owns a special place in my heart.  Both sets of grandparents used to live there, my Mom and her sisters were born there, and my Dad’s family moved down there.  Mom and Dad met in Daytona and my happiest moments have always been our trips to Daytona, so it was quite shocking to hear the Hard Rock  waitress in Venice, Italy say she had relatives in Daytona Beach.  What a small world!  She was quite excited when I mentioned that my family was from Daytona.

Following this, the group went to a bar.  The others have been frequenting the bar, but this was my second trip.  We went to a place called Madigan’s Bar, which features signs from all the schools that have visited it from America.  Sure enough, our group had already been there and a sign was already hanging by the time I visited.

Tomorrow sees the group take a gondola tour down the Grand Canal.  I am extremely excited.  We have gotten great views from the vaporetto of Venice, but this is the perfect, relaxing sightseeing tour.  I cannot wait.  Ciao from Venezia

PS: Use the link from my Day 7 post to see pictures of the Ca’Rezzonico and the views of the Grand Canal from it