BeanMan: Vote for water

My one full day in Venice...

Did a couple of sights (another galleria academia, San Marco's, another bell tower), saw some good art (Titan ...) and views (from tower, though you couldn't see canals from up there) and a nice ceiling (honestly, I've had enough of frescos ... So it was just lovely that St. Mark's had an amazing gold mosaic ceiling. Very impressive. Lots of gold on the exterior of this multi-domed basilica).

Also chilled in a piazza by the basilica and Doge's Palace, listening to live music and watching pigeons climb on people and chase each other around. Really was kind of amusing.

But today was mostly about wandering. Went by a couple of big areas, but mostly kept the map in my pocket and just picked a direction (in Venice, one must constantly pick directions ... And you try to vary it up so no one direction consistently feels left out by being picked last). Found a university, some folks playing hoops (sometimes they looked European, what with good passing, decent shooting and no defense or rebounding ...) and kept the map in my pocket until I reached a choice between boat bus (no ticket) or cruiseliner (no ticket).

FUN FACT: The last supper, according to one formerly prominent (dead now) eventually Venetian artist's interpretation (Veronese), took place here in Venice. Florence artists might disagree. As do Roman artists. But not those from Secaucus -- they pretty much know they've got no claim here.

Mostly ate Pizza, which is much closer to NY style than that in Florence and Rome. Good pizza.

But the real highlight was tonight. Took one of them boat busses (it's like a bus ... That floats! And not upside-down!) down the grand canal for about 20 minutes, enjoying Venice at night from the water. I think I got some great pics, too. After the boat, continued to walk around, and even learned enough of the geography to give reasonably good directions to people from the Czech Republic and Italy.

And followed my dad's advice of asking a pretty girl for directions. And boy did she give me directions, if you know what I mean. I mean she pointed out where we were on the map and instructed me how to reach my destination. Most helpful.

I wandered some more and took it all in (and many more pics), helping keep tourism the No. 1 industry here (not sure about that, but it has to be true -- we are flooding this city ... well, that would be the water, actually).

FUN FACT: Mussolini was a fascist.

So my Italian journey ends in a matter of hours, and my German jaunt begins. So much more to see here, so a little sad to go. But many more cities and much more adventure awaits. Buona serra, Italia!