More like Ve-NICE

Well, my time in Italy is basically over.  These past weeks have seemed like the just blew by.  The perception of the passage of time is anything but constant.  The weather the past few days has been a little down.  But it's fitting that it's been so wet in a city that sits upon the water.

There is no other city like venice in the world.  Sure, other cities have canals running though them, but Venice is a city of canals.  There are no cars, no bikes, the only motor vehicles are in the water.  And it's been that way for hundreds of years.  That's not to say Venice isn't a very different city to what it historically was.  It's been transformed to almost exclusively a tourist destination.  There are very few actual residents of Venice, and even fewer who don't work in an industry directly linked to tourism.

The first days in Venice were actually really nice, I may not have been fair to the climate here.  We hopped off the train onto Venice, the only land connection to the outside world, and set off to explore the city.

Venice really is a pretty small city.  It's confined by the size of the island, and it can't really build up because it's on a swamp.  And tall buildings would ruin the allure of the city.  Though when taking heavy luggage places it is better to take public transportation, rather than walking.  The vaporettos are medium sized boats which navigate the broader canals of venice to move people place to place.  When people think of Venice they certainly think of the Gondola's, and their drivers in straw hats and stripped shirts.  And there are certainly plenty of those in Venice.  But the service runs upwards of 80 Euros, so I decided against using onef this trip.  Maybe next time Venice.

Please excuse the HDR halo

Venice is a city dotted by buildings with neat architecture and monuments.  Part of the charm of some of the buildings is that most of them have entrances from the water.  But there is also the fact that the buildings look old, damaged by time and salt creeping under the plaster from the canals and the air.  Decorated wells are all around Venice.  They were originally used to collect rain water to drink.  None of the wells are in active use, as the city has drinking water brought in an aqueduct along the train tracks.  The canals were used for sewers at the time, so it was not a good idea to drink from them.

One might wonder how Venice was able to not die from horrible disease.  Part of it was that they did.  Venice was a very unsanitary city for a long time.  Napoleon, when he invaded had to do some very basic things to make sure the city wasn't so pestilent, like start a hospital and make sure the Venetians didn't bury their dead on Venice.  But that wasn't all.  The tides were able to keep the canals relatively clean.  And this is relative to a literal cesspool.  An odd smell still permeates the streets of Venice, and it is still a very bad idea to swim in the canals.

There is, of course, the issue of rising sea levels in Venice.  They even had to raise up the road to prevent damage, and unwalkability of the walkways during High Water.  To manage this issue, Italy brought in a bunch of Dutch guys (because who knows dams and levees better than the Dutch?) to construct a series of 4 barriers, which guard against high tides, with the ability to withstand water up to 3 m (10 ft) above normal water level.  The segments of the Mose Dam rest on the bed of the mouth of the lagoon and allow water exchange.  In the event of high water the segments empty out ballasts and revolve around a hinge to block the water from flooding the city.

While Venice is the most notable city of the Venetian Lagoon, there are several other islands that I was able to explore.  Murano is famous for it's glass.  I was able to watch some craftsmen in the process of creating a glass chandelier.  Something they would probably be able to sell for several thousand dollars.

Borano is a small island, with little of note, except for a leaning bell tower, and several small houses, none larger than 3 stories, which are painted any color you can imagine.  Lido was the last Island I visited, and that place has a beach.  I was able to dip my feat into the Adriatic and feel sand run through my fingers.  It was genuinely a good time and I had a lot of fun.  Up until the rain started.

And it rained a lot after that, and I don't really think it stopped until a few hours ago.  I climbed the bell tower in St Mark's square.  It was cold and wet and rainy, but I imagine when the weather's not aweful I would have enjoyed it more, I did go out for dinner, and I got to see something rare.  A time when St. Mark's was practically empty.  The sky was dark and the lights were on, reflecting on the puddles.  It looked something like a dream.



Goodbye Italy, you will be missed.