Venice

We're in the midst of the third month of our journey, and life on the road is becoming second nature for the both of us.  You could say that we've fallen into a sort of "travel groove."  The constant motion, new faces, new terrain, new food--these things have become our life.

I'm guilty of neglecting to post on this blog as much as I would like, and even if I wrote here every day, it would be exhausting and impractical to detail all of our daily experiences here.  Suffice it to say that each day brings new sights, experiences and perspectives.

All this said, I'd like to share my impression of the city of Venice, a town world-renowned for it's charm, romance and utter beauty.  Last Sunday (the 11th), despite the forecast of rain, Jenna and I decided to hop a train to Venice.  Jenna had been there once before, and she said it was one of her favorite cities in Europe. It was a place that, for me, held an almost mythical aura. This impression no doubt had been fueled by my exposure to the city from it's appearance in everything from Bond movies to Shakespeare.  It's iconic canals, the vibrant colors, the labyrinthine streets, all contributed to my preconception of the city as otherworldly, ethereal.

From the moment our train started across the narrow bridge from the mainland into the cluster of islands on which this magical city rests, my previous impressions were proved well founded.

The weather throughout our brief time in Venice was not what you would call "nice."  Gray, thick clouds loomed ominously overhead, sudden gusts of wind would threaten to tear the near-useless umbrellas from passersby's clutch, and there was the constant threat of rain.  It was the kind of weather that in most other cities, under most other circumstances I would call gloomy.  In fact, the wind in some places had caused the water at high tide to flood from the canals onto the streets, submerging storefronts and first-level homes.  Tourists and locals alike trudged through puddles in knee-high rain boots (or plastic bags for the thrifty), and shop owners all over the city could be seen squeegy-ing their floors clear of the half-inch of water that had flooded in.

The picture I'm painting of the city those 2 days may give you the impression that I didn't have a good time, that the weather fouled our plans and forced us to huddle indoors.  In fact, the whole aesthetic of the weather, the disgruntled shopkeepers, the tourists trudging through puddles in multi-colored plastic bag-boots, the city employees constructing raised paths in severely flooded areas, was an experience that I would not have traded for the most picturesque blue-sky day in the "Floating City."  We spent most of our time wandering through the streets, getting utterly lost in it's maze of double-backs, dead ends and bridges leading nowhere.  The bright, festive edifices and elegantly arched bridges and courtyards provided an incongruous counterpart to the fog and clouds, the broken umbrellas and trash strewn though the streets, victims of the powerful gusts of wind.  There were areas of the city that were nearly deserted--due to the weather or some other reason I'll never know--and Jenna and I often found ourselves in the midst of our own private, somewhat eerie landscape.

Venice was a charming city, and I am thankful I was able to finally see it for myself before it goes the way of Atlantis.  After all, with climate change becoming an ever-increasing reality, it may be under water in the near future...