Views of Venice

We've been home nearly a week and have settled back into our life.  It took a while to find the things we tucked away to clear up the house for our dog sitters.  I've managed to get my photos onto the main computer and want to show a few highlights of Venice.

I never actually thought I would get to Venice and in fact last year when we spent one night in Las Vegas it was the Venetian that we visited because I wanted to see the Rialto Bridge and the grand canal.  I have to say that the tourist area around Saint Mark's square and the Bridge of sighs kind of reminded me of a more crowded version of the Venetian Hotel experience, except it was real.






This is high tide at San Marco and you can see that the water actually does rise right into the piazza.  Apparently a few years ago they took up every stone and added several inches of sand to raise the level but still this is what happens at the height of the tide.

Nobody seemed at all concerned about it.

















My favorite part of Venice though, was the backwaters.  Once we got into the little canals we could see the real Venice.  Here the gondolas aren't just for tourists, they're used for transportation. I took some walks early in the morning and kept having to retrace my steps because the narrow stone alley would just end at a canal.  In some cases there are little bridges but in others there is just the water or perhaps steps going down into the water so you can get into a gondola.

I became somewhat obsessed with taking pictures of gondolas and canals.  here are few that give an idea of the beauty of this unusual city.  It just continued to amaze me that the buildings rise right out of the water and that people manage to live their daily lives in such an environment.  There were no cars at all.  Everything is delivered by boat and handcart.

The mood of this city is sombre and quiet in spite of the tourists.  The tarps over the boats and the poles indicating a gondola stop are the brightest colors you see.  Occasionally there are flowers in window boxes but there is a dreamy stillness everywhere with the still water and the reflections of the ancient stone buildings in the water.