First Drop: City of Venice

 

It's true: it's almost impossible to take a bad picture in Venice. When I sent a few pictures back to family and friends, my sister Beatrice accused me of using "stock photos". But it really does look like this! Incredible that a city build on trees stood on end (thousands of them) in a lagoon can be real. And so hopelessly picturesque. I know; I'm waxing inarticulate and a mouthful of cliches is rolling out of me...

I wasn't prepared for how much I'd like Venice. I'm actually not that inot water- like beaches and stuff are not my first choice of where to spend a vacation- but Venice was so bizarre. And quiet!! No cars! Obviously crowded with tourists, but quiet...

And it's a silly city! I mean, where else do you spend half your time climbing up stairs and bridges to get to the other side?! What a pleasure to traverse... no dodging cars and taxis. And boats bring everything to the restaurants and stores... and then things are schlepped along on hand carts. They've got it all figured out!

And the architecture is pretty mazing. And no, I am not telling you anything you don't already know, but my mind was sufficiently blown! I probably wandered around with my mouth agape, stymied at how to respond. (Bob was kind enough to allow me to be stupified. I think he was kinda stupified, too!)

I'm so glad we got to go and explore Venice because let's face it, it probably won't be around forever. Climate Change is causing sea levels to rise and Venice apparently suffers crazy flooding every spring. But it's so beautiful! And seemed pretty clean...

Hard to comprehend the space of this square: it's truly vast. I alos have to add that it was really hot when we were there... like REALLY hot. And all the stone buildings and paving just soak up that heat. And obviously, there weren't a lot of trees so the ehat is real. But it's so beautiful... and tehre were small parks and the entire Venice Biennale is in a pretty shady location.

And yes, the canals are chock-a-block with gondolas... and gondoliers! You can't make this stuff up! I took to wondering if there were clumsy godoliers who ran into other boats or occasionally lost their balance and fell into the canals. The water did look pretty green and mucrky!