venice

mandy and boyd took a day off to show me venice...yay!!
we started the day by waking up w/out alarms, which is always nice...we drove about ten minutes down the road to a town called pordenone, which is the nearest train station to their house...the train took about an hour, and the final station was in the middle of venice...you walk out of the train station and there is a canal right there! i wasn't really expecting that, i'm used to having to get to the city centre...there were tourists everywhere as soon as we got off the train! waiting around, posing for photos, chattering away, eating gelatto, etc...

the city of venice is built around canals...before the city existed, the area was basically a malarial swamp...one of the reasons the city was founded was that locals could deal with the mosquitos, but the constant invaders couldn't...a natural protection of sorts...now the city is famous because of the canals, though i can't begin to imagine being there in the middle of summer, when it must be sweltering...one of the most famous things tourists can do is take a gondola ride, though i didn't do so...the lowest price i've heard was 70 euro, and i bet most people pay more than that...it's crazy expensive...sure, it's an experience i'd love to have, but would i really appreciate it that much? i doubt it...
our general plan was to walk to the platz (san marco square, i think it's called?) and find a restaurant nearby for lunch...walking there ended up taking an hour or two, as we had to walk down the same streets and alleys as every other person in the city...i didn't have a map, but if i had, i doubt it would've been very useful...just follow the people...along the way there are heaps of stores, gelaterias, etc...

most of the stores we saw were geared toward tourists...it's amazing that they all succeed in staying open, and making money, because they all sell the same stuff!! venice is known for it's glass, so every third store sells glass...in every way imaginable...jewelry (earrings, necklaces, bracelets, etc) and vases and wall decorations, and plenty more...i loved all the bright colours, and could've spent hours browsing...needless to say, much of what is available isn't cheap...and many of the stores had signs saying they were having a sale...which made me wonder, are they ever not having a sale? i wanted a ring, so i ducked into quite a few of the stores...mandy and boyd tolerated me, mandy was looking for a vase...in some ways it seemed as though there was a huge variety in styles, but when you want something specific, it seems like everything you see is the name, and not what you want!!
we finally got to where we wanted to be for lunch...just outside the restaurant is one of the areas gondolas congregate and take on passengers, which meant it was great for people watching...we ended up having to wait to eat about 30 minutes, so we watched a lot of people...

after lunch we went back to san marco's piazza...(i finally remembered the italian word, not the german word:)...san marco is a big church and museum...i would've enjoyed wandering inside the building, but the queue was long, and i had no desire to wait...neither did mandy or boyd...while walking toward the church boyd said he saw someone famous...mandy and i didn't see anyone we recognized...as it turned out, boyd recognized a couple people who were filming an episode of "an idiot abroad"...a dwarf known as willow, and karl somebody or another...clearly, i still don't know who these two are...
on the walk after lunch, i finally found a ring i wanted to buy:)...yippee:)

from the piazza we made our way to the rialto...it's probably the most famous bridge in the city...considering there are heaps of bridges in the city (it is built on water, after all) this is saying a lot...i took pictures off each side of the bridge, then got (more) gelatto from a vendor nearby...YUM...
after that, we took a water taxi back to the train station, and bought tickets for the next train back to pordenone...it was a slow train, and took over an hour, but i didn't care...
i think i'd go back to venice, but i'd rather be there in the middle of winter, when there are far fewer tourists!!