The Real Venice

We rode the train from Florence to Venice on Saturday evening. You get your first real taste of the city as the railway approaches, and travels over nothing but water. The train station has garage doors and openings for boats and trains, but nothing else. As the sun was setting, sara, myself, and a british couple we sat with on the train sat in awe of such a beautiful scene to arrive to.

Venice looks like a painting. As you probably know, there are no streets, but only canal waterways that wind through the labrynth of a city. Motorbikes are replaced with kayaks, cars with boats, and buses with ferries. There are beautiful gondolas with handsome men in striped shirts offering to shuttle you around, just like in the movies. Love is in the air in Venice as it seems to be a popular anniversary or honeymoon spot. It truly is a fairy tale city.

We walked all of Sunday through the city and saw the famous sights and soaked it all in. It was hard to believe that this was the REAL venice! We were fortunate enoiugh to be there on the day that there was an international regatta rowing competition being held. We stood for hours on a bridge, watching the boats go by and cheering along with the rowers and spectators. It was neat to be a part of, but it sure brought in the crowds. Venice was very crowded! Luckily, there are plenty of side streets and alleys that are equally beautiful as the main walkways that we could slip into to avoid all the tour groups.

We unfortunately only had 24 hours in Venice because we had to catch a night train to Nice, france. But it was a perfect taste of such a uniquely beautiful city.