Italy '15 2nd half Ave Maria 7-10th

Ave Maria Oct 7th-10th bikebarge

7th Riding day for some and cruising for others. Kim and Barry rode with the main group and Steve, Lisa and I stayed aboard to enjoy the scenery and the traversing of the 3 locks between the rivers and canals as we made our way closer to Venice.

8th
The day was beautiful weather and started with a walking tour of Chioggia to the fish market and then a little free time to explore. We all met back at the Ave Maria where the boat, with everyone on board, cruised to the next island. There the cycles were unloaded and most of us rode along in the Venetian islands. We rode the length of the narrow island with the Venetian lagoon on one side and the Adriatic on the other. We then took a short ferry (with our bikes)  to Lido,  one of the most prestigious(and expensive) vacation destinations for all of Italy. We stopped there for a gelato and then rode back to where the boat picked us up. A lovely afternoon cruise past Venice (which I understand we weren't supposed to do but got away with it anyhow) and circled back to where we would spend the night. We had a fabulous mooring right on the dock where the Venice waterbus stopped.

9th Had a good walking tour of 'the hidden Venice' by Hein in the morning. It was followed by a dull tour by a professional guide of the San Marco square and a few landmarks on the way to the Rialto bridge.  We made it 2/3 of the way through and bailed on 'Debbie Downers' talk to have lunch and sightsee on our own. Managed to get some shopping in and had some more amazing gelato. (Nutella flavored gelato with a salted pistachio ganache!)

10th Travel day:Breakfast, said our goodbyes, disembarked the Ave Maria, took the water bus to the train station, train to Rome & train to the other end of Rome. We arrived fairly late so after checking into our AirB&B we went to dinner in the drizzle. The meal was spectacular, papardelle and lamb chops for me and amatriciana pasta and saltimboca for Kim. I loved the walls and ceiling in this cozy scooter themed locals restaurant. The walk back was in a cool downpour which meant wet socks for many. The drought stricken Californian in me still didn't mind and I enjoyed sleeping to the sound of the rain.