Venice

Hey Everybody,

Due to the great time I had in Florence, I wasnt able to type up my experiences in Venice.

I am currently in my final destination of Rome! Woo!

Here you go:

Venice is how one would imagine it to be. I read various reports that stated that it was made up of anywhere from 150-200 mini islands. Apparently, the city was started by refugees of various parts of Italy who decided to build pillars on the islands in order to make a city on the water.

The city has countless bridges and paths, and my main goal was to get lost. The further away you get from the tourist areas, the prettier the city becomes. The ends of residential blocks end at waterways, where if you time it right, you can watch a young couple in the bounds of love slowly drifting down the canals in a gondola while someone is singing italian love songs... life changing.

So what a single guy do in the (arguably) most romantic city in the world? He cant really go to bars, because they are nearly impossible to find, and the city is a major labyrinth. He cant take a gondola, because A. that would be the saddest thing a single guy could do, and (more importantly) the cheapest package was around 80 euro. Instead, he sits in his hostel and plays cards with two girls from the Netherlands (true story).

Instead, with tears in my eyes I watched all the honeymooners laughing and holding hands.

The city was beautiful. The first full day I was there I went to the Accademia. The Accademia holds most of the famous paintings from Venetian artists pre 19th century. It consisted of 24 rooms that each had some type of theme (most portraying some aspect of Christianity). I believe that this is the best known museum in Venice. Some of my favorite paintings were "Portrait of a Young Man with a Book" by Lotto, and "The Feast in the House of Levy" by Veronese.

"The Feast in the House of Levy" had a really interesting story. Its huge. Its big enough that the artist was charged with heresy from the church because of the size of the painting (219 inches by 500 inches) crazy. It depicts a great feast.

I did do the San Marco square, but to be honest, I lasted about 5 minutes. It was the Times Square of Venice. Way to overpacked and not THAT much to see.

The next full day I got lost, and the one thing I kept noticing was that many of the steps that led from the canals to the streets were under water. This means that the city is sinking. Venice is trying to battle it, but unless they make drastic changes, I wouldnt be surprised if the city sank in the next 200 years or so.

Thats all for now,

I will post Florence soon.


Unfortunately, I will be home in 6 days... BOOO

Love you all,
Zac