Venice: Elegant Decay

Venice is and has been falling apart. The food and wine in our price range was average at best, but decay makes more interesting photos! St Mark’s Square is amazing, made more so by the three ensembles playing music. They were great but seating nearby is reserved for restaurant patrons with higher budgets. The view from the tower was probably worth the price of admission. We were up top for a bit of very loud bell ringing. We spent a lot of time on these boats. Our guide, Tyler, has made many trips here. Michelle and I just followed.

We toured a church with an “art installation” which was hard to reconcile with the huge canvases by Tintoretto. (I don’t have any photos of his or other canvasses because lighting wasn’t good enough.) Tintoretto paintings are found in many of the churches in Venice. There is a restaurant/bar every few feet. This restaurant was fun partly because the manager is crazy. Scary crazy. W avoided eye contact. But that made it memorable. I’d rather say the food made it memorable. We had excellent Italian food in the villages back up the trail, though. This is a flat floor in a church. Clever!The view from our hostel rooftop. Venice keeps to just a few colors, and these are predominant. Murano, famous for its glass artistry, has a wider range of colors. Burano, not pictured, has lots of brightly colored houses. And hordes of tourists. This is not me, but we kayaked the canals one evening. Pretty cool way to experience Venice, good young tour guide. Did not take a gondola ride. I’m glad I spent time in Venice, and Tyler was a fantastic guide. It may be a once in a lifetime experience for me as there are so many other places I want to go. Our hostel was €100 each for the three nights, so it is affordable. If you don’t mind the bathroom down the hall and no air conditioning!