- The thing about Venice is creativity. When Atilla the Hun drove the people off of the mainland, they found a way to make do in the swamp. Then they made the most unique and beautiful city in the world.Below is a map of Venetia. The thing about Venice is that the map looks like a fish.
The thing about Venice is you might see a pirate. On an I phone.
Or signs that make me laugh. “Dogana, I fell down.”
Or wonder why there aren’t any cats since there are so many birds and then find them in a creepy alley late at night.
The thing about Venice is that they perfected rainwater collection centuries ago.
The wells are located in courtyards of buildings and are cisterns to collect rainwater. They are still used in some places and are not part of the waterway system
The thing about Venice is there are stories that Venice is sinking. However there has always been flooding during high tides. This is the beginning of high tide at Plazzo San Marco. Later in the darkness we saw it actually running like a river.
The waterways open to the tidal system and are “flushed” daily. The steps going down to the canals often disappear.
The thing about Venice, and perhaps most impressive to me, is how they perform the construction and renovation. Below are men delivering drywall to a job site which is down a few alleys from their location.
Everything is done by boat/foot/hand/cart. No matter how large or small, construction workers push carts of materials through the narrow passageways to get to their projects. We saw a lot of use of pullys and ropes. We also marveled at how careful they are to preserve not only the detail of the buildings but also the flow of the tourists. The picture above is on a busy shopping street.
The thing about Venice is the music. There are musicians playing everywhere. In restaurants, on the street. The music museum was beautiful. Some of the instruments they have on display below;
The thing about Venice and my favorite, the FOOD! I highly recommend to meander the back alleys to where we saw a lot of local people eating. Didn’t have a bad meal the entire week. There is an island across the Grand Canal that the locals call the Vegetable Island. Most of their produce comes across the Grand Canal from there and is amazingly fresh.
The thing about Venice is that the boats are works of art. Like human faces, similar but not the same.Below is a boat making shop we found. If you look closely you can see the different parts of gondolas.
This door was open so I went in and found where they store some of the boats. Open any unlocked door (especially is no one is around!)
The thing about Venice is that living without cars, car sounds or smells for a week was relaxing. Venice relies on the bells. All night and until about 9am it is quiet. Once the bells ring the town noise begin. Footsteps, talking, clinking of dishes, children laughing, a town waking without mechanics. We walked at least 10 miles a day and LOVED IT!
The boats took us where we needed to go when we needed to cross. Lots of selfie sticks and the boats usually looked like this:
shenaniganswithleannagainwebdotme 
Still amazing things to see! I love the instruments in the music museum! 😉
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