Erica Irlbeck, Ed.D.: Italy Day Due

We left Milan for a train to Venice early Thursday morning.

Venice was awesome! We ate lunch at a tiny restaurant by our hotel and then saw the sights.

We took a waterbus ride to St. Mark's Square only to be greeted by thousands of people when we arrived.

At first we thought it was a mess of tourists, but then we realized someone was filming (and for my ACOM 3301 students, yes, filming is the correct term) a movie in St. Mark's Square called The Tourist. Coming to a theater near you, February, 2011.

Upon further noseyness, we realized Johnny Depp was the star of the movie!

So there we were, in one of the most beautiful cities in the world with only a limited amount of time to experience Venice, and we spent a good 30 minutes trying to get a picture of him. Scott had to take the camera and get the pictures because I was too giddy with excitement.

Hi Johnny! Great to see you!! He's waving specifically at us!

Angelina Jolie is the co-star of the movie, but she wasn’t there that day. Our gondolier said that she and Brad and their menagerie were staying in a palace on the Grand Canal. Of course they stayed in a palace. A really nice hotel would have just been trashy.

St. Mark's Basilica was beautiful, but under renovation, so we didn't get the full effect.

However the inside was wonderful with gold paintings and lots of sculptures.

Much of the rest of St. Mark's Square was under construction, including the famous Bridge of Sighs. This bridge connected the palace to the prison. So as the prisoners were taken to their cells, they would take one last look at Veince and sigh at its beauty. The scaffolding was masked by a Mont Blanc ad. I guess it's better than looking at ugly scaffolding, but it seemed a little cheap to me (even though Mont Blanc pens are very expensive).

Following St. Mark’s Square (and Johnny Depp), we took the waterbus to Murano, a small Venetian island. On the way, we were able to get some great views of Venice.

On Murano, we saw original glass décor, jewelry, and other trinkets; ate gelato; and had a nice Italian seafood dinner. We really liked Murano. It had the feel of Venice without all the crowds.

We returned to St. Mark’s Square to further enjoy the views without so many crowds. It was really nice in the evening.

We browsed around and then took a gondola ride. It was wonderful--very romantic!!

We looked at the lobby of the Hotel Danielle. Look at it on Google--very beautiful and waaaayyyy out of our league. I felt like white trash in there, but secretly hoped for an up close and personal sighting with Johnny Depp. Didn't happen.

We then went to the Rialto Bridge (not to be confused with the Rialto Theater in Alva, OK) and looked around, but it was late, and most stores were closed.