Where Are My Swim Fins?

Venice was wet. Even the bits that were not canal. It rained... a lot. Piazza San Marco was flooded. The man who sells seed to feed the pigeons found the highest point in the Piazza and was considering breaking out his snorkel.

This isn't that unusual. Venice is sinking, and the sea is rising. When flooding occurs, the locals break out platforms the tourists can use to walk through the square without getting pruney toes.

We started our Venetian adventures in Piazza San Marco not because it was close, but because it's the most-visited part of the city. Most tourists only visit Venice for one day, and don't venture far from San Marco. I figured I'd apply the Disneyland rule and hit it as early has possible. This didn't seem to work. We were just in a big crowd going nowhere.

We found the elevated line to Basilica San Marco. The entrance to the church was also flooded, and we didn't notice on this visit the extent of the building's exterior decoration.

However, we were immediately impressed by the interior. The basilica's art is pre-renaissance (very 2-D), and virtually everything is covered in gold leaf. Here is another place where taking pictures is not welcomed. This I just don't understand. If all Catholic churches had the same rules, I might. You can fire away in Saint Peter's and Saint Ignatius, but not the Sistine Chapel, and not here in San Marco.

You're also required to be quiet. They have professional shushers.

After the basilica, we waded over to the Rialto Market. It was a little late for this market, and we vowed to return another day. It rained more. We jumped onto the vaporetto and rode it out to Lido, then rode it back to Venice and decided to call it a day.

On the walk out, we stopped to admire many of the shop windows. Venice shop windows are second to none. Shopkeepers understand arrangement and lighting. You can gain weight just walking past a candy shop.

It's good that this wasn't our only day in Venice. Otherwise, we would have left with memories of a miserably cold wet day. We were destined to see much better in the next few days.