So Much to see, so little time

Hello Blog Fans,
David is relaxing after a long day seeing the Vatican and I thought that I would give blogging a try. We had hoped to have more time to record our adventure, but each day is so full of running around that we come back to the hotels exhausted. We are in Rome now and have a computer in our Room so we have a great opportunity to update everyone on our travels. David left off with our time in Paris, where we boarded our train to head to Venice. We reserved a couchette or cabin, which was about the size of a bathroom for our 11 hour ride. Bunks folded out of the wall and turned our bathroom into a semi comfortable sleeping environment. Our sleep schedules were still haywire and we both ended up awake at 1 in the morning and we were able to admire the view of the Swiss Alps out our window as we passed through Switzerland. We arrived the next morning lacking a goodnights sleep and a bit motion sick from a long night of swaying back and forth on the train. With the entire city of Venice operating on a canal we had to catch a giant barge to our hotel called a vappertto. It was about a half hour ride through the heart of Venice to make it to our hotel. Our stop on the vaportto was luckily very close to our hotel and for the first time on our trip we didn't get lost finding our accomadations. After checking in we went out to find a local market that was said to be a 5 min walk. An hour and a half later we stumbled on the market after getting lost on the small poorly labled streets. It was a definite change of pace from the busy streets of Paris. We visited San Marco square and fed the hundreds of birds that cover the plaza, took a trip out to a neighboring island for what we hoped would be a day laying on the beach, and generally just wandered around the canals and tiny roads, that many times led to a dead end. The people in Venice were very friendly, and the view from our hotel room onto the Grand Canal was well worth the trip. Here are some pictures of the sights we have been taking in. The architecture is truely amazing!!!!