On Friday November 2nd we left campus at 4:15A to travel to the airport for our flight to Venice. We fly to Venice because it is cheaper than the fast train. We landed in Venice about 8:30A. Picked up our luggage, because Easy Jet makes you check in everything larger than most purses. The other interesting aspect of Easy Jet flying is that there are no assigned seats. It is a mad dash from the tram or bus to the plane, and you enter from the front and the rear of the plane. And it is every man for himself to find the seat he/she wants. Once we claim our luggage we wait for Danilo to purchase our travel passes for the weekend. The travel passes allow us to ride the buses to and from the airport and are used on all ferries in Venice. Below is a picture of our hotel.

We didn't know what to expect in Venice because of all the reports of flooding. We were all prepared with our boots. But when we arrived the sun was shining and there was scarcely a puddle. It was obvious that everything was wet, but there was no flooding. I think some of the students were disappointed. I was not. We had a great first day exploring the island of Lido where our hotel was located as well as Venice itself. The crowds were kind of thin because of all the cancellations from the flooding. It was great. Below are some random picture of gondolas and some of the minor canals in Venice.

We wandered over to the Rialto Bridge area. One of the major shopping areas in Venice. This is where we discovered the street art below.