Venice

So we headed over to Venice. I mean what can you say really, every time you move there is a picture perfect view of a canal with and old bridge and a beautiful old houses in the background. It is like a story book. Venice was a world power for a couple of centuries and it shows. They spared no expense on their public works and flaunted their wealth with impunity.

St. Mark's Basillica is a prime example of this. I think half the place is covered in gold and jewels. It is spectacular. A lot of Venetian history is preserved and displayed in the Basillica and various other museums. Coins, armor, paintings, sculptures. The Doge's (mayor) palace was a good tour. It was a good history of how Venice was run as well as a stunning building with beautiful art including the largest oil painting in the world. I especially enjoyed the paintings of the naval battles. This was a well organized city with it's own code of law that was strictly enforced. There was a lot of money via trading on the line and keeping this money flowing was a prime of objective of the ruling council.

We had a Vaporetti (big water taxi's) pass and we used it a bunch. Heading over to various islands and around the city by boat. It is no Gondola ride, but for $120 the Gondola was not really a great idea. There is a cemetery island we visited and we also went to Murano where they blow artisinal glass. The glass blowers were kicked off the main island because their kilns kept lighting things on fire and they didn't want the city to burn. We picniced on Murano and watched the sunset one night. All the day trippers were gone and the tourist hoards had left and it was just us and some locals. A group of old women were gossiping near us and the teenagers were cruising the canal in their boats, some bumping their tunes and others just cutting up and checking each other out.

All the boats are so cool. Outside the canals the bays are divided into 'roadways' so that everyone is not just cruising around randomly. There is a lot of traffic and I am amazed that nobody crashes into each other. I would love to have a boat around here and just cruise around.

In our hostel we stayed in a room with another couple. They had been traveling for a few months and were on the last leg of their trip. We hit it off and ended up hanging out for a bit in the next city we went to, Bologna (more on this next).

It is a bit hard to find good food in Venice. There are so many tourists that places don't have to try very hard and so the quality of the food suffers. Now, when I say there are a lot of tourists, I mean a LOT OF TOURISTS. They outnumber the local populace at least 2 to 1. Fortunately people are crowded into the same area and if you take a little time to wander off the beaten path a bit, you can find the real Venice, with families going about their lives.

I am writing this in Bologna and will talk about that next. We are off to Ferrara next then to Parma for the Proscuitto festival.

Ciao