Venezia

The fourth day, Thursday, 17 November, found us in the city of Venezia. We arrived by bus to a minor "port" on the mainland and took a large-group, water taxi to the main landing in the middle of the historic city. The traditional and most effective means for a typical tourist to arrive is by rail which deposits you on the islands within easy walking or vaporetto distance of all the major attractions. November is typically an interesting time to visit Venice. The high tourist season is over, although there were plenty of tourist-types looking lost to trip over everywhere. The weather was quite pleasant with fog in the morning which yielded to bright sun and a high temperature around 50 degrees. We were lucky in that November weather can be quite rainy and windy which contributes to the l'acque alte (the high water), where basically the entire city floods to some level or another. When this happens, people are left to either walk/wade through the water or take to elevated walkways which are placed throughout the city. These walks, shown below, were present, but not in use during our visit.

The focal point of the city is Saint Mark's Square and the Doge's Palace. The Doge was the military leader of the city. It was a somewhat symbolic position, but during different historic periods the Doge did play a central role in protecting Venice and spreading its influence across a rather large empire. The Doge's Palace fronts on both the water and Saint Mark's Square. It is connected to Saint Mark's Cathedral which was at one point the Doge's Church. Both the palace and church are ornately decorated and both are open to the public. The church is free; the palace, now a museum, most definitely is not.

Another of the more famous tourist attractions is the Ponte Rialto. It is one of the few bridges across the Grand Canal, which snakes through the main portion of the city. There are three walkways across the bridge, two along the outer edges and one, larger and lined on both sides with shops, down the middle. In the picture below, there is a boat directly under the bridge. This is a vaporetto. They seem to be the primary mode of transportation for residents. They run from one end of the Grand Canal (near the railroad terminal) to the other (near St. Mark's) and then along the waterfront. We rode one in order to take in the sights, many of which are only visible from the Grand Canal.

Of course, when you think Venice, you think gondolas. There are the tourist gondolas, several of which are shown below, and then there are actually working gondolas. I took a picture of one on the Grand Canal from a vaporetto as we went past. If you factor in all the stops that the vaporetto made, the gondola was actually going faster on average. However, we didn't indulge ourselves in a gondola ride. At 80 euros for a 40 minute spin through the canals, it was a bit pricey for our tastes. Yes, that does mean we didn't kiss at sunset under the Bridge of Sighs.

All in all, it was a very nice day. I have to admit, I was prepared to be underwhelmed. I figured it would be difficult to live up to all of the hype. It probably didn't, but it got much closer than I had expected it to. On a less pleasant, but somewhat amusing note, I discovered upon our return to the hotel that I had been the victim of a pickpocket. Fortunately, all they got was the grimy, booger-covered hankerchief out of my back pocket. I will miss it, but if it does them good, they are welcome to it.