Venezia! Step right up!

Two days tramping through the vehicle free island of Venice. No cars, scooters, bicycles, skate boards, horses or rickshaws. Walked ten miles each day through tight alleyways, over canal crossing arches and traversed open squares. Take away: not super favorable. Man!, was it ever crowded and it’s not high season yet. The perpetual foot traffic is tempted with abundant retail snags. Many appealing storefront restaurants, sweet shops and souvenir kitsch. The wealthy really do live on the island tucked away inconspicuously behind authentic decay and genuine antiquity. We though wander through the dark damp alley maze, camera ready, looking for a postable Instagram snapshot. It’s me, on the peak of the arch bridge, shoulder three quarters to the canal below, smiling like I assaulted Everest. The backdrops are identical repeats. It’s my own grin, photographically scabbed onto the scene, that makes it mine. The cannolis are good. People seem to enjoy the classic orange Aperol spritz, a lot. The line to see inside St. Mark’s Cathedral would make Epcot’s line blush in embarrassment. The gulls are as big as chickens.Read more