- Venice, is that you or did another marmot die in my bathtub?

Street musicians everywhere

We enjoyed our time in Venice. Upon arrival, we managed to navigate the parking, the land and water buses, ultimately arriving on the lagoon unscathed. Our apartment was perfectly located in a quiet Dorsoduro district with reasonable access to everything (with a bit of walking). It was really comfortable with air conditioning throughout the house (emphasis on "throughout").

Venice is a great running town provided you go early enough. I got disoriented one morning and quickly learned three rules to
live by in Venice: 1) when lost, stop, 2) observe the general flow of foot traffic, and 3) if you still can't get your bearings head for the Grand Canal.

Whenever you walk around Venice it is impossible not to people watch. There are thousands of people from all over the world moving in a great big mass of humanity. It's fun to see.

Connecting with friends at home in our nice cool home

Clock tower and the pillars with St Theodore and The Lion

St Marks Basilica Facade

St Marks Basilica

While in town we did plenty of sightseeing. The Venetians were such successful tradesmen and avid shipbuilders they stockpiled enormous Mediterranean treasures. Shannon and I spent some time museum strolling also. We visited the Doge's Palace where we spent the better part of two hours walking through the Courtyard, the Grand Council Chamber, the hidden passageways, the Bridge of Sighs and the infamous prisons. The canvases and frescoes are absolutely amazing.

The Doge's Palace built and rebuilt over decades

Grand Council Chamber - huge expanse with no pillars

Painting with Doge in the center

This was a great introduction into the workings of the Venetian Republic. The armory and secret passages were intriguing. I pondered what it must have felt like to be on trial or come here seeking help from the Council of Ten. Worse yet, having to take the gloomy walk through the Bridge of Sighs into the prisons.

The Courtyard

Artwork in the waiting room

The Doge's Palace Armory

Bridge of Sighs

The New Prisons

Outstanding architecture

Early morning on the Grand Canal

Canals near our home

The Piazza San Marco is huge and so are the crowds. Avoiding the crowds from the cruise ship tours becomes a comical necessity.  I took an early morning run in Venice and saw less than ten people on the Piazza. Here is a photo from that morning:

North end of Piazza San Marco, early morning

By late morning it looks like this:

Gondola traffic jams

Also annoying are the unenthused salesmen hawking toys on the main alleys and squares. St Marks Basilica just isn't the same when some guy is shining a green laser beam on the wall of the adjacent building trying to sell you cheap goods from China. Oh well, maybe he'll sell me some bird seed to feed the pigeons. Quick, get your camera. Three just landed on my head and arms.

Cailin's friend from Portland just happened to be in Venice and they linked up for a short period including a trip to the top of the clock tower. Prior to connecting up with her friend Cailin was on a countdown: "...only three days until I have human contact."  I'm not at all sure what that means about us.

The last evening we spent in Venice we took a Gondola ride and Cailin played her Ukulele as we meandered the canals. Along the tour we saw Gallileo and Marco Polo's homes. This was a "touristy" thing to do, but part of our whole Venice experience.

Cailin with the Rialto Bridge in background

It would be interesting to see Venice in the off season. Shannon was reading that heavy rains fill the alleyways and squares to the point that you can take gondola rides in the squares themselves. One interesting side note about the Venice alleyways: Venice streets are crowned, driving water and its contents toward the walls (and thus into the shop and home doorways). I found this curious since the streets of the Venetian town Piran were concave with drains in the middle. It would be interesting to see the difference in a massive rain.

I know its stating the obvious but Venetians are both dependent on and highly adept at using boats:

Morning supplies coming in

Don't try this at home

Venice is truly unique and we really enjoyed our visit. Of course, it gets muggy this time of year, and this feeling is amplified by the lack of air circulation within the narrow alleyways. This, along with certain deposits, give Venice a significant stench at times. So much so our new running joke about foul smells is, "venice...is that you?" They do a good job with trash collection, recycling and clean up. I witnessed this every morning. I guess its just a simple fact that when this many people are launched onto this constrained of a space, and some them bring their dogs, it's going to have an olfactory impact (I've always wanted to use that word in a sentence).

During our three days we barely scratched the surface of Venice. It's easy to see how you could spend a week or longer here. At the same time....three days was just enough for me this time of year.