The Water Taxi in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Dan says that to him Fort Lauderdale is a cross between Las Vegas and Venice, Italy, and today we explored the "Venice" aspect of it. I might add that Dan likes Venice.   A cruise down the Intracoastal Waterway in the Water Taxi with the possibility of hopping on and off with our day tickets provided several hours of nice scenery, pleasant weather and good food. 

The Water Taxi.

Lots of highrises.

Beautiful homes.

Patrick enjoying the cruise.

Broiled red snapper for lunch.at the Bahia Cabana.

Key lime pie for dessert.

Pat with this "handsome dude". He almost looks real.

Lots of really big yachts.

Dan waiting for the Water Taxi as we headed back to our hotel.

Tomorrow we head for Naples and the west coast of Florida crossing over the Everglades which I've never seen.  Stay tuned.

Everything Comes Out in the Wash

The floor mat in our laundry room, Chatfield.Rd.

I love washing clothes when I am at Chatfield Rd, because I can hang clothes on the line to dry.  In Raleigh we don't have a clothes line.  The only place we could put one would be in the front yard, and I'm not sure that would be acceptable in our neighborhood.  But think how much energy can be saved by using "solar energy" to dry our clothes.  And I love the crisp fragrance of clothes dried in the outdoors.

Our sheets drying on a sunny day, Chatfield Rd.

I was at a craft show here in Cleveland County yesterday, and one of the potters, Ron Philbeck, uses clothes lines as a theme on his pottery.  I couldn't resist; I bought this delightful little dish

Pottery dish with clothes line theme by Ron Philbeck.

I'm so intrigued  by clothes lines I take photos of them whenever I'm traveling.

Clothes drying in Port Hawkesbury,  Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

Somewhere in Italy.

In Venice.

I wonder what the neighbors would say if we installed a clothes line in our front yard in Raleigh.  Maybe we could start a trend.

Italian Doors

 
I was absolutely fascinated with the beautiful and diverse doors we saw in Italy.  There must have been a wonderful door store, but I never saw it.

My favorite in Deruta.

San Marco Square in Venice, Italy

On Sunday morning we walked through San Marco Square in Venice, Italy and these are some of the things we saw:

Palazzo Ducale is the symbol of Venice and masterpiece of Venetian Gothic style.  It was the Doge’s residence.

The lion, symbol of the city, atop one of the columns at the entrance to the Square.

The man and the crocodile atop one of the columns at the entrance to the Square.

Basilica of San Marco : The City’s emblem church.  Byzantine character expressed in the large mosaics recounting the Old and New Testaments.

Mask for sale by vendor in the square.

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Wall Art or Graffiti?

Some wall art we've seen in Italy: