Venezia

Venezia is a city with character. I assume that most people take the boat from the train station to Piazza San Marco, but I walked it and saw a part of the city they don't show you in the movies. Statues falling apart, buildings falling apart, graffiti everywhere. But I like it. As the city was built on a series of islands with canals everywhere, there are not streets designed to allow large vehicles. A lot of streets are quite narrow between tall apartment buildings. And they hang their laundry to dry on clothes lines stretched between the buildings. It kind of gave me the impression that Venetians love their city the way it is, live the way they want, and let the tourists deal with it.

The Piazza is stunning. An interesting fact is that the floor of the Piazza is not always above sea level. During high tide, it floods. There are these little drains all over the square, and at high tide, the Venetian Lagoon bubbles up and floods most of the Piazza. Like I said, residents accept Venezia the way it is and let tourists deal with it. I spent a lot of time wandering around, eating a couple pizzas and a gelato ice cream cone. I went through the Doge's Palace, but perhaps what I enjoyed the most was the sunset. Across the Lagoon, behind whatever that church is on that island out there. Bella. I sat there for like 30 minutes just taking it in.

Having not planned this trip very well (okay, at all), I had a pretty good day. I'll go back to Venezia someday, but probably not alone, and not without better planning.