"Dove siamo su questa mappa?" - "Where are we on this map?"

Tired of sharing our little Umbrian town with the million or so visitors that were here for Eurochocolate last week, we decided to hit the road again. So the day after Terry came home from Greece (work trip), we each packed a bag and caught the morning train to Venice. I was pretty excited to go to Venice - I think when I picture Italy, I picture Pisa and Venice - they are the universal images that mean 'Italy'. When we saw Pisa, we had pretty low expectations because we had heard so many mediocre reviews of the town. So we were pleasantly surprised there.

In my hasty research, I had read a few negatives about Venice, too: the smell, the crumbling buildings, the expensive.. well, the expensive everything! I don't know that my expectations were lower, this time, though. I was so excited about going. On the train there, I listened to my Italian lessons and wished I had bought a guidebook so I could read about our destination. (note to self - buy a guidebook before you go somewhere - they're handy to have) For the last part of the journey, which is the bridge through the lagoon, I mostly stood and peered out the window to try and get my first glimpse of anything that looked Venetian. (blinds?)

After getting off the train, we walked out of the beautiful old stazione and into VENICE. It's exactly what you imagine - we could see the Grand Canal as soon as we stepped outside, with its bridges and boats and crowds of people. We decided that we were in no hurry to find our hotel, but thought we'd make our way in that general direction. So we made our way out of the crowd and wound through the narrow streets, over bridges and past beautiful old buildings. We stumbled upon a used bookstore and we each picked out a book for the train home. He had no guidebooks, but pointed us in the direction of our hotel. After a while, when we decided we were STILL lost, we bought a map and book from a street vendor. Even though we didn't have the address of the hotel, we managed to find our way there with the help of some locals. It's so funny to walk around these world-famous cities, and to realize that some people actually LIVE there - and have lived there all their lives.

Venice was everything I expected - it was so beautiful. The book that I bought was a story based in Venice and described the city as "a woman of a certain age", made beautiful and young in low light. I actually thought she was beautiful in bright light - even though that was hard to come by in the narrow winding streets!

We walked for hours, most of the time not knowing where we were exactly, but always managing to find our way back to the hotel, eventually. I think we went at exactly the right time of year - I can only imagine the streets in the height of the summer tourist season. Some of the streets are only a couple metres wide, and near the major attractions, they get crowded and move very slowly, if at all. There are no cars on the islands, so everyone gets around on foot or by water. Crossing the smaller bridges is difficult, because inevitably someone (usually me) is stopped at the top of the bridge, trying to get the perfect picture of a gondolier. I wouldn't say any of my pictures were perfect, but have a look for yourself.

One of the other Venetian islands, Murano, is famous for its glassware. Terry's parents brought me back a beautiful necklace when they were in Italy a few years ago. I really wanted to see the place where they are made, and maybe pick up another one for myself! So we took a boat to Murano, where we visited one of the factories and watched a glassmaker at work. (see the video) Besides jewellery, they also make amazing large sculptures, lights, dishes.. everything you can imagine. That was well worth the trip, but the prices weren't any better than in Venice, so back we went.

On our last morning in Venice, we took a vaporetto (kind of like a city bus on the water) up the Grand Canal from Piazza San Marco to the stazione. Our last view of Venice was the runners heading toward the finish line of the Venice marathon.

Back to Perugia, Eurochocolate 2008 is officially over, so Centro has returned to normal - just us locals and a smattering of tourists. But Halloween is over, so it's now Fiera dei Morti - but that's a different story! (and not nearly as exciting as you might think)

Other videos from Venice:
360 of Piazza San Marco
Piazza San Marco Bell