Leapfrog

The journey from Florence to Venice was very smooth, as every journey so far has been. I went straight from the train station to my accommodation, a campsite 10 minutes by bus outside of Venice where I got my own “mini-chalet” for the same cost as a dorm in the city. It was a nice little place and they made surprising good pizza.

Real day one in Venice was not ideal. The weather decided not to cooperate at all and it was cold and rainy. The city was still beautiful, and the gray drizzle gave an appropriately solemn tone to my stroll through the Jewish quarter where,  unsurprisingly, everything was closed for Passover. I had planned a day of visiting museums and churches, but I felt there was enough to see on the canals and in the little narrow streets that there was no need for me to oversaturate my experience. I look forward to seeing the Guggenheim collection and Palazzo Ducale, on my next visit. Plus I was a walking giant green damp ball thanks to my ridiculously oversized poncho.

My father’s friend and former classmate Christiana was kind enough to give me several recommendations for my visit to Italy but her truly excellent advice in Venice was to not follow the tourists and to find beautiful, quiet places. I couldn’t have spent my time better than doing just that.

An unfortunate side effect of the rain was my poncho, which completely prevented me from taking pictures, except the one pictured above through my neck hole. It was not a comfortable experience. A one picture day! What a shame in this amazing floating city.

I decided to call it quits when the wind in St. Mark’s square was so strong it pushed me around a little bit. I am not an easy lady to push around.

Luckily Day 2 was much more of a photographic success. I woke up prepared for another mildly miserable day, even went so far as to put on three layers of pants only to find when I opened my door that the weather was sunny and beautiful. I took the bus into Venice and just enjoyed the weather. I had planned on spending all of Monday taking the many vaporetti, but the weather was so beautiful I decided to just walk the city and have a day of exploring and of taking pictures. I ended up never going inside a single building in Venice, just looked at the surface of the city. It’s one of the reasons I know I will return.

I found many wonderful little back alleys and quiet white marble corners that vanished into soft blue green water. I happened upon hidden gardens and courtyards, watched fierce old Italian ladies mutter over tiny bridges. I would find a wider street with a stream of people holding cameras and bright umbrellas and I’d simply go in the opposite direction. I never got lost because I never had a destination.

p.s. There are more photos in the gallery!