Venice, Italy

Venice is a claustophobics nightmare. Magical labyrinth?! I nearly lost my mind.



This is not acceptable.



Nor is this.




No Comment...wind your way through a bunch of these with no concept of where you are going..

Despite my obvious setback, I loved it. It is a photographers dream. Distressed doorways, crumbling walls, peeling paint...so much texture...so many angles.

I took 227 pictures.



Venice surprised us. It is large,much larger than we anticipated. Winding corridors opening up onto spacious piazza add to the overall sense of distance covered, but within that space there is a myriad of eating, shopping and wandering to be done.
We were surprised by the number of quality shops. We were expecting it to be very touristy, but in fact there seemed to be few tee shirt/knick knack stores.We were surprised at the quantity of small neighborhood restaurants and cafes...little wine bars tucked into nooks around every corner, all with their own character and flavor. Our biggest surprise though was the lack of tourists. We had read many story and tale about the craziness of the crowds.Yet,today we found ourselves often strolling down a laneway with no one in sight. I am sure that changes in the warm spring and summer months.

I believe Venice would be beautiful any time of the year. It is polluted and it does have a bit of a distinct "seaside" smell in some areas. Its surroundings, large industrial plants on the mainland, port and train station as you enter, are not so pretty. But once you are tucked away into its crooked, uneven streets, surrounded by waterways afloat with gondola and drenched in all things old, it is very easy to lose yourself over to its charm.



My advice to anyone entering Venice for the first time is to hop aboard the vaporetti, or water buses. They wind through the Canale Grande and give you an unforgettable first glimpse into the daily life of what it would be like to be a Venetian. We chose to be dropped off at the last stop, Saint Marks and then gradually wind our way back by foot to the train station. Hours later we discovered we had only covered a quarter of the island! For those who love to lose themselves in the midst of it all..this is the place for you. For those like myself....you can always hop in a gondola.



I have to confess to another problem I have encountered during my stay here.I am sure there must be a name for it in the medical dictionary.I am calling it lang-lexia. We have been through 4 countries in 5 days, all with their own language.
I am confused!! I have started conversing in a combination of all of them. I thanked a young girl in Germany in Spanish, said good morning in french and good bye in italian. Oddly too, my mind has adopted french as its first language.. well its more franglaise than french.??