"Ahhh....Venice" -Indiana Jones in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade"

Or said a bit more eloquently: “Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs in one go.” - Truman Capote, American author

In late spring of 2011 GermanBoy and I took a three day trip to Venice, and after our tours around the floating city, I must say that I agree wholeheartedly with both Capote and Indiana Jones. Venice was absolutely marvelous, even to the point of being too amazing, too much at times.

We left the full-of-construction street in front of our apartment at 5am and began our 6-hour journey to the "City of Canals."

There wasn't much traffic, so we arrived at our hotel on the neighboring island of Lido (cheaper than staying directly on Venice), checked into our hotel, and were on a boat heading over to Venice by 1pm. 

I've head lots of complaints about Venice being over-crowed with tourists. When we arrived, however, it was raining, so we were pretty much the only ones around! The weather was not ideal, but it felt like we had the city to ourselves!

We made our way to the main street, where there were definitely more people milling about, but I certainly wouldn't say it was packed. We walked up and down, up and down, up and down the stairs that formed small bridges over the canals. I searched for the stair-bridge that Harrison Ford had walked along when they shot  "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade." They all looked so similar that it made it hard to be certain which bridge was the right one, so we walked over every one just to be sure.

Just behind the main drag, plazas were deserted of people, outside-seating areas were closed, and in many places the canal water was overflowing the sidewalk. 

During the heaviest bit of rain, the famously-shaped gondola boats sloshed in the water by the docks. Nobody was offering nor asking for rides, and so they were all tucked away under plastic blue tarps. 

As soon as the rain so much as lightened up, however, tourists flocked to the boats and began requesting rides in the canals that meandered under the bridges and between the buildings all throughout the city. Many tourists really wanted to do get the gondola experience, even if it meant riding while holding umbrellas! 

The rain came and went throughout the afternoon, and during the times of no rain, a lot of the tourists tried to get their turn on the gondolas, which left the water-ways pretty full, but the streets quite empty for GermanBoy and I!

Most people just hired a boat with a driver, but we also saw one couple that had a driver, a man playing an accordion, and a man singing to them! The singer was belting out a beautiful version of "Qui Sera Sera," and I wondered if the male passenger on board was planning to propose to the female passenger...

Here are some more photos of Day 1 in Venice:

Apparently the houses used to be taxed by width, so the skinnier the better! This is a model of the skinniest house on Venice.

The water level has risen, so the house owners have had to brick-up the windows and doors!

By the time we made it back to our island of Lido and settled into a tasty, not-too-touristy restaurant for dinner, we were both exhausted. And even while sitting at the table, our bodies still felt like they were drifting on sloshing water. It was time for bed.

***Thanks for reading this Thursday blog! Don't forget to come back next week for more! Plus, if you want more adventures, be sure to check out my Twitter and Facebook Page. And if you have any photos or stories from your travels that you'd like to share, please send them to me to land in my "Guest Adventures" section! Thanks again for reading, and have a great week! Bye***