It’s hard to condense all of my experiences in Venice down to a webpage, so all I’ve got here are more snippets and snapshots. Churches, bridges, canals, steps, cats, flowers, vaporetti, the sea, the lagoon, the beach, sand, seashells, tanned and toned vaporetto employees, peach iced tea, always perfect temperature, warm nights, pink lamp posts, sculptures embedded in houses, boats, islands in the distance, pigeons walking just like tourists, narrow streets, busy shopping districts, humid air, mild sunburns, lunches and dinners at outdoor tables in restaurants, waking up to church bells, Ciao, Grazie!
Church of Madonna del'Orto. We passed it numerous times on the way to and from the vaporetto.
Every evening the beaches on Lido get freshened up – first by manually removing trash, then by smoothening out the sand with a tractor. And that is not just any tractor – the machine is a Lamborghini!
Lido at sunset, looking east into the Adriatic sea. We went to Lido several times in the evenings, especially during the second half of our stay. Collected about 2 liters worth of seashells – I know because they now sit in two 1L glass jars.
Me speeding? No-o, officer, that is impossible!
Ambulance boat. We actually got to see ambulance workers in action once. A very intoxicated woman passed out in front of a grocery store and was attended to by a couple of the emergency workers. Let's pretend she was intoxicated by the sheer delight of being in that wonderful city.
One morning we woke up unusually early and headed to Burano. It was something like 8am when we got there – it was very very early morning for me. It was overcast and somewhat chilly and I felt just a little bit down for some reason (must have been the lack of sun). The island got a lot busier by about 11am, and the sun came out too. I was almost on the upswing at that time, but then the most terrible thing happened – we got hungry (around noon) but nobody wanted to feed us! All the restaurants were closed, as they normally open for lunch only much later. Having been up since before 8am, we were rather disappointed at this. Ended up going back to the vaporetto stop and getting some lunch at a fast food kind of spot near the pier. Fried octopus and shrimp with french fries. Sounds good, but the seafood was way overdone, dry and with little flavour. There was a stray cat walking by who ultimately was more interested in my lunch than I was and ended up getting a few of my shrimps.
Burano.
I have a soft spot for cats. This one is napping in the morning in Burano. Secretly, I wanted to nap too.
Burano. You can live here, too, there is apartment for sale right in the green building.
Burano is not just about painted houses, it also has large squares and umbrella-carrying pedestrians.
Beware of the cat. I think someone just tried to fit one of those tutus on him.
Burano.
Burano.
Burano.
Burano.
Burano.
Burano.
Burano.
Burano in infrared.
Burano in infrared.
This odd ruin on a tiny island is situated somewhere between Venice and Burano.
Venice Casino on Grand Canal. I was thinking of visiting it just out of curiousity, but it never seemed to be on the way. Maybe next time.
What you see here is not just a church and the statue of Paolo Sarpi, it's also a soccer field. Some evenings kid play soccer here, with the closed church doors taking place of goal posts.
Sidewalks on Lido. There are actually roads and cars here, and a varied selection of motorcycles. The beach is directly to the left, even if you can't see it. And there are people swimming there, right now, even if you cannot see them.
Murano in the rain. Did not take many photos due to the weather. The rain was not too strong most of the time, but the change in temperature and humidity between outside streets and inside the numerous shops we visited was fogging up the lenses. There are lots of interesting glass items in Murano, but also lots of boring stuff. The interesting pieces are often very very expensive, and so are some of the boring ones. (€90 for a single drinking glass, the kind they have dozens of in every store? No, thanks.) A greater concern though is getting the glass items back home. Some shops will offer to send your purchases back home via courier, but in my view, if I was going to have things shipped, I would have shopped online instead.
San Michele cemetery in infrared, as seen from Fondamente Nove.
Side canal in infrared.
Zooming in on Dolomites from the east shores of Venice. You can see the mountains, but only as blue silhouettes with no details.
The same view with an infrared camera reveals striking details. Turns out infrared light dramatically cuts through the haze.
San Giorgio Maggiore. We came in 5 minutes after the last group of the day went up the tower. Oh well, that's what the next time in Venice is for.
View of Venice from San Giorgio Maggiore.
Fires are burning just beyond the horizon, at times lashing up so high, the become visible above the cityscape.
Boat "roads" in infrared.
Blooming Venice.
View outside of the Orto vaporetto stop.
The Lido vaporetto stop.
Lido.
This fancy little place marked one of the last turns we made on our way home in the evenings.
Some sort of museum advertising some sort of exhibition, on the west bank of Grand Canal. Vaporetto stop immediately behind me. In the end we opted against taking the vaporetto and just walked through the (dark and scary!) streets and alleys towards Ferrovia bridge, crossed it and headed to our place in Cannaregio.
Sunset.
This one is not too artistic, but very representative of our kitchen in Venice. On the right is not a sewing machine, but a microwave masked as a sewing machine. On the ceiling is a Murano glass chandelier. On the table in the white box is some delicious pastry. It's all pink and purple, which are totally my colours!
The cool part is that I used to have a plant just like the one in the lower right window.
Smelly cat.
This concludes my first encounter with Venice. On the morning of the last day we woke up early so we can get our things and get to the Alilaguna boat to the airport where we were picking up our car. Snapped that shot of church of Madonna del’Orto on our way. Rushing through the streets my shoes caved in and ripped – a week in Venice is apparently too much to ask of some. The boat was on time, the walk to the terminal a little uncomfortable. While there are car rental agencies at Piazzale Roma, only the one at the airport had a nifty cabrio to offer. But that is a story for another time.
Your photos are enviable. Great encouragement for those who have not yet “made it” to Venice. Thanks for posting them.