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This is what it looks like when you step out of the train station.
Venice is one of the most famous cities in the world, and indeed, I've never been anywhere quite like it. The city lies across 118 small islands separated by canals. There is no method to the madness; the city is basically a gigantic maze, and the only way you could ever find your way around reliably is by memorizing buildings and pathways.
This is the street that led to our hotel. (Quite a shitty hotel, as it turned out.)
We spent our day and a half in Venice basically just exploring the streets, making our way lazily from landmark to landmark. It's a city made for meandering.
After some walking, and having no clue where we were, we emerged out of the alleyways into a large body of water. We knew there was a grand canal that runs through the middle of the city, but this seemed too wide.
We soon solved the mystery: we were on the edge of the city, looking out at another large island that contains a different city.
It took a bit of work, but I eventually oriented us on the map and we found our way to the grand canal. There are three--only three!--bridges that cross this central waterway, so they are all very busy. This is one of them; you can see another one in the very first picture.
This is looking down the grand canal from the bridge.
We continued to explore the streets.
I can't tell you how strange Venice is to walk around in. I've now been to a lot of places that are big tourist destinations, but I was always strongly aware that we were in a community, a place where people lived and worked.
Venice feels as though it's entirely populated by tourists. Almost everyone had white skin, carried a map and a camera, and was speaking English as you walked by them. Seriously, almost everyone. It felt as though this was a place just built for people to come and visit, like a theme park or something.
It's a rather unpleasant feeling, actually.
However, this square was breathtaking to stumble into. It's the Piazza San Marco, the largest and most important square in the city. It's flanked by impressive buildings, including St Mark's Basilica. Napoleon used the buildings here as his royal palace when he conquered Italy. (Considering that he also used the palace at Dam Sqaure in Amsterdam, that gives you an idea of the scope of his empire).
We kept walking.
This is the third bridge that crosses the grand canal. It has the most character, with shops lining either side of it.
We spent most of the afternoon just wandering. There are obviously no cars in Venice, but there are also no bikes or roller blades allowed. You either walk or you boat. God help you if you're physically handicapped.
There are a lot of churches in Venice, but they don't stand out as much as ones in other cities.
There were always guys in striped uniforms calling out 'Gondola, Gondola' as you walked by. Gondola rides, however, are expensive. Really expensive.
We ate dinner here. The service was good but it was the worst grilled chicken I've ever had in my life, and I don't usually complain about food.
We went out to a live jazz show that night, which was really cool.
On our last morning we trekked out to the far shoreline, which has some open space and park. It's quite nice.
We took a trip in a vaporetti, or a water taxi, which is a much cheaper if less elegant ride than a gondola. Walking is alright, but Venice is best seen from the water.
Soon after lunch we got on a train and headed back for Milan, and from there back home. So ended our trip to Italy.
Venice is one of those places that everyone should see at least once; there's just no other place that compares. That said, I wouldn't cry if I never made it back there again. I felt like a day or two walking around in the streets is enough.
Milan, Rome, Florence, and Venice. All in a week. We were ready for a rest!
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