Another great day in Venice. We started it off by having a picnic on the stairs of the canal. We were greeted by a few fish and a few crabs as well. They crabs were cool fast and Luke fed them some ham and we watched them eat it. Fast little guys. They have a number of bridges that go to nowhere, well nowhere isn't quite entirely accurate. It is to an extent but some of them lead to the front door of a house. Along the meandering today we walked to where the cruise ships dock, and we think that we walked past where they make some gondola boats, but we aren't sure if that's accurate. Another thing that Venice has everywhere, is masks. Apparently they used to have many, many masquerade parties and it was the Vegas of Europe. These are rather creepy looking, especially when you walk a street and majority of the places have these masks hanging everywhere and staring at you. But we did walk past one place that as similar to a colour me mine but mask version. I did think that was pretty neat, but I love that sorta thing.
We found the fire department and the police of Venice. Was pretty cool, didn't realize till after that we were by the fire department. One thing about the water is that it is actually very clear, and it really doesn't have a smell either. Venice is soooo old. It dates back for years and years, but yet it has such a charm to it.
Apparently Mark from the Bible called Venice home at one point, and his remains are in San Marco square, which is Saint Marks square, named after him. But tells you how old it is. One thing we won't get used to though is the cover charges and the service that Italy has, they are ridiculous and aren't going to get used to it.
Today we embraced the ciesta and came home for a few hours to cool off, and get out of the hot sunny heat for a little bit. For those who don't know, my life is a musical. For many reasons, but as it relates to our trip there have been a few childhood movies that we have been to sights that were in the movie and I sing my way through. Cheetah girls in Spain, and it will be Lizzie McGuire for Rome. It so fun! But I always sing my way through life.
We ended up staying out later to Venice at night. We also listened to Rick Steves talk about San Marco square and surrounding area. The city of Venice symbol is a lion somehow symbolizing Mark, and can be seen all over San Marco square. There are also many musicians in the square that are playing different styles of music all close together, but they are all very beautiful sounding. He said a few interesting things, we didn't know. Venice biggest disaster is fighting water. Acqua Alta is what they call the rising sea level. This happens 100 times a year. The worst is in November and March around the full moon. San Marco square is where they gauge the sea level.
They do this by seeing the lowest parts in the square when that has water in it they know know to take precautions. It can get water that seeps in from underneath. They have an alarm that sounds and the Venetians know to take precautions and they put furniture up off the ground. It is a crazy thing to think that this is normal for them. The main square has benches that gets lined up and creates a sidewalk so people can still walk across if need be.
Venice is on the Adriatic Sea, and within in and around Venice and the land creates a lagoon that is very shallow. So shallow apparently you can walk across it and your hair wouldn't get wet. Because of this fact Venice is the only Medieval city that didn't need a wall to protect itself. By land or by sea, they were able to be protected without putting anything into place.
The city continues to amaze me, and the beauty that it has. It is also so fun to wander the streets and find different ways of getting to where you need to go. The last picture is of the Rialto bridge. Under restoration work, but this is the best picture I think I will get of it, day or night. Ahh I could talk in circles about how fun it is to walk through the streets or rather the alleys in Venice, but I won't. Two more days in this beautiful place before we move on and I look forward to seeing the areas we haven't seen and taking many more pictures of more streets and canals, and even a canal ride for us.
And so the adventure continues...
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