Last afternoon in Venice

We took an early train out of Trieste this morning so we could find a few hours this afternoon to search Venice for the store where I bought the purse  that I lost a few days ago.  It was a great excuse to spend more time walking the back streets of this amazing city.

We walked all afternoon, from the train station all the way down to Dorsoduro where I remembered buying the bag, stopping for lunch and refreshment and photographs on the way.  But we were unable to find it.  On the way back we wandered through the area near the Rialto bridge and there were several stores selling bags like the one I'd lost.  I think they're made in a workshop in Florence and they come in many different colours.

It's hard to choose because they're all pretty but I liked the dark turquoise colour of the old one so I held out for that. After a few tries I managed to get one almost the same colour, which pleased me a great deal.

We also got to ride across the Grand canal in a traghetto, which we couldn't do last time because they were on strike. (So Italian!) The traghetto is a gondola rowed by two guys back and forth across the canal. It costs only 2 Euros per person and generally they fill the boat with people standing up while they make the very short trip.  Harry says it would never be allowed in Canada.

Here's one of the gondoliers.

 And here's a beautiful building that caught my eye.

Tonight we're in an airport hotel getting ready for our long flight home tomorrow. I must say I'm ready to get home. It's been a whirlwind trip and we saw tons of interesting things, but there comes a time when one longs for the familiarity of home and routine and friends.