Water, water everywhere.

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May I present to you ... one of the most beautiful Italian cities, Venice. Or Venezia, if you like speaking the local lingo.

*takes a deep breath*

You see, I have no idea how to present Venice to you. It's a place where you have to BE there to see for yourself. I can tell you that it's a city full of canals. But you already know that. I can tell you that it's truly a beautiful place. You think heck, the whole of Italy is beautiful. I can let the pictures do the talking, but that wouldn't be so fun.

We got to Venice from Innsbruck by coach, but that had to be parked somewhere because we had to take an express ferry ride to the, I don't know, one of the land bits of the city full of water. Buildings left and right were pointed out to us, and the really I was thinking .... wow. You see all these beautiful structures, and then you see all this beautiful water around you.

And it was a sunny day.

And the sky was blue.

And the sea was blue.

So there was a sea of blue, and then old, beautiful buildings. It was breath-taking like no other breath has been taken ... huh. Boy, I should never write song lyrics hey?

*chop chop* Back to Venice, and when we reached the main area, we were shown around by the local guide. Statues here, statues there, I'm not really interested in statues.

There was the Bridge of Sighs which I thought was interesting, as it connected the prison and the execution room, or something like that. So they sigh when they cross the bridge. Hence the Bridge of Sighs.

AND THEN! PIAZZA SAN MARCO! Or St. Mark's Square. So, so, so, so beautiful.

The first thing that you see on your left as you head into the square is Biblioteca Marciana, which I think is the name, which I think is supposed to be a library. I can't remember what era the building style is.

And then on your right is the Doge's Palace (Palazzo Ducale) which is a gothic building.

And then ahead of you is St. Mark's Basilica (Basilica di San Marco). It's a byzantine building. It's .... gold. And I told you the sun was shining. So it was SHINY GOLD. IN MY FACE. *faints* By the way? The historical centre (or the main area as I call it) of Venice? Has a LOT of churches. Heaps. And it has a lot of canals, a lot of bridges, a lot of gondolas. We'll talk about the gondolas later. Cause the CHURCH. Or basilica ... wow.

Ok so you've probably seen much nicer cathedrals in your life because you have been to many more places than I have ... but I haven't ok? Melbourne's St. Patrick is beautiful but it isn't gold. So there.

Thus you have 3 buildings all so close together, all of different styles of architecture.

We managed to go into St. Mark's but I was a very good and law-abiding tourist, so I did not take pictures of the interior. Churches are beautiful inside and out, but I think they tend to be more impressive outside because they look different. When you enter, it's basically just the pew, the altar, the cross. And then pretty stained glass windows and paintings and such. Because I have no pictures of St. Mark's inside, I have forgotten what it was that was so special. I think it had uneven floors because of all the water and the sinking.

In the square, there is also a big bell tower kind of thing, which is known as St. Mark's Campanile. Then there is the Procuratie, or the Procuraties, I don't know, which was very impressive.

I must not forget that we also spent some time in this Murano glass factory thing. Venice apparently is also famous for its Venetian glass, and mum bought a necklace. I got a sweet-shaped glass as a souvenir.

We also managed to find a photo place to burn our pictures onto a CD. It cost us 8 euros for each memory stick.

Headed back to the square to wait around to be taken to the gondola area. What was really heart-breaking was that we had already paid for Dad's and my brother's share to go on the ride, but Dad gets seasick and brother wasn't interested. Boo. The gondola ride was kinda fun, although since it was cold, our gondolier did not wear the bandit shirt and the black hat. It got dark fairly quickly so I didn't get that many great shots, but it was interesting anyhow, and at least I now can say .. I've been in a GONDOLA! They had one for couples and that gondola had a solo singer in it. I can't remember what he sang. But there was no O Sole Mio.

I managed to see lots and LOTS of Venetian masks too, and it's a pity that I don't get to stay around for the Carnivale, and for the Venice Film Festival. I think both would be very very interesting to stay for. I got a little Venetian mask badge/pin as a souvenir.

And that is all I remember about Venice. It was very beautiful, I can tell you that.

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