Beautiful Venice

I don’t know how anyone could visit Venice and not totally fall in love with this “one-of-a-kind” city. Nowhere else will you find a thriving major, commercial center with no automobiles, no bicycles…in fact…no on land transportation at all. However, the waterways and canals are teeming with every kind of boat you can image. The usual image is of the singing gondoliers…and there are plenty of gondolas, but I did not see any of the gondoliers actually singing. Their water buses, or Vaporettos, water taxis, all shapes and sized of boats that must transport everything from food, to furnishings, to garbage. I never did quite figure out the “rules of the road” but, luckily, those who spend their days navigating these waters seem to understand their own special etiquette. Oh, near misses don’t count, and all of these boats have a heavy duty reverse gear that can bring a moving boat to a stop in a hurry…and this is often needed.
One of the pure joys of Venice is just wandering the narrow streets and following canals to see where they lead. Around St. Marks Square, which is the Icon of Venice, over to the Rialto Bridge is shopping like you have never seen. Every high end manufacturer has a store alongside the unique and provincial Venetian local fare. Once you cross over the Rialto Bridge you get into a much less commercial and much more “this is where the locals live” area, which we thoroughly enjoyed. The people are so warm and friendly and every block is a photographer or artists dream. Each building is different and the churches, of which there are many, are totally magnificent. We even stumbled across the Opera House, the Music Museum, and a museum that was featuring Leonardo Di Vinci.
All in all…it was two wonderful days in what is becoming one of our favorite cities in all of the world.