Venice

After an action packed few days in Rome it was time to move on. We loaded onto the train and took off north across the country to Venice. The ride to Venice is a nice one with much of it traversing the countryside. As you near the end you know you are close when you notice water on both sides of the train as you pass onto the 2 mile causeway to the Island. Off the train and into the station we grabbed a map as I left mine at home (duh). You step out of the train station and you are right on the Grand Canal! There is no mistaking you have arrived in Venice. After three bridges and a few missteps we found our hotel and settled in. The room in Venice was “quaint”. It was a portion of a converted apartment with the most uncomfortable furniture I have ever sat on and hot water that only worked part of the time(and not for showers).

We immediately set out to explore the city. Venice is one of those places that is truly difficult to appreciate without being there. There are no roads, no bikes, no scooters etc..just pedestrians and canals. As a mater of fact there are over 100 canals and 400 bridges. This is not one of those scenic places where if you have seen the few famous pictures in the brochure you have seen it all. No exploring the many streets and alleyways is like walking through a picture postcard. Everywhere you turn there is a beautiful view of an old building, a canal or a colorful flower box. I finally had to put the camera away because I could not keep up. Everything in Venice is also very old, unique and full of character, there are no sky cranes construction sites or new glass and chrome buildings.

Of course everything in Venice must come and go via the canals, but you knew that (so did I). However when you are there you realize what that means. Everything comes in on a boat and is carried by hand cart into the city. That means the garbage is picked up by hand and carried out, food for restaurants come in one load at a time. The tree we saw being cut down needed to be chopped up carried to a boat and shipped away. We even saw the UPS boat come down the canal and the driver (or should I say captain) unloaded everything onto his cart for deliveries.

Finding your way through Venice is maddening, there are maps and street names but they go every which way and are impossible to keep track of. We navigated via sense of direction and churches. That is we would try to find a route in a particular direction (which was not always easy) and when we hit a church (every minute or two) we would refer to the map. It worked reasonably well plus we had not where to be so it didn’t much matter.
While there we saw all the sites, the Grand Canal, Rialto Bridge (Marketplace) and San Marco Square. In the square the kids fed the pigeons, which were rather aggressive (be sure to check out the picts). Of course we also took a Gondola ride. While this may sound touristy it really was the highlight of the trip. To travel on the quiet back canals and see the houses and locals up close is awesome. Most of these back canals can be reached no other way even by foot. In all Venice was a nice change of pace from Rome and a day and a half was more than enough time to soak up the vibe! (Extra Picts)