wow

somehow they made this place look just like that new casino in las vegas. seriously though, everything you've ever heard about venice is true. it's absolutely incredible. it is crammed with tourists in every nook and cranny, but i love it anyway. i spent the morning wondering around looking for a camera, but once that was settled, i took to the sightseeing in a frenzy. they have vaporettos running up and down the grand canal and out to other islands. these are just medium sized boats to carry passengers. venice is made up of 150 islands and has over 400 bridges. some of the islands are far away...or it feels that way. they're a few miles, and everything is so flat, you can't see the other parts from there. the main area, with the grand canal, the rialto bridge, and piazza de san marco (st. mark's square, so named because venetians stole mark's body from egypt a long time ago and put it here in venice), has tons of gondolas and hotels and restaurants, but there are still people living around there too. the whole place is absurd, really, and shouldn't even exist. it should have been lost to the sea a long time ago, but somehow it still hangs on, which is good. i spent about 9 hours wandering around hundreds of narrow alleys, finding old churches, squares, and buildings...something fascinating around every corner. it's all really beautiful in my opinion, even with the other tourists everywhere. just when i would think i was really off the beaten track, a big group of overweight american tourists would come charging down the alley behind their tour guide. in europe there are millions of american tourists. they are definitely the majority of the tourists that i see now, as opposed to in asia where i would only see the occasional american. i took the vaporettos up and down the grand canal, and the number 12 vaporetto out past st. michele's island to murano, burano, some other place with a long name, lido (the original lido...their version of the riviera, a beach resort area), and back to san marco. burano was amazing...a sleepy little fishing village with all these brightly colored houses packed together next to small canals. it was all like going back in time. venice is one of the high points of my trip. it's definitely not cheap, but food is decently priced, and you can get by without spending too much money if you don't buy a bunch of junk (or leave your camera on the train). so i highly recommend venice for anyone. tomorrow i will get on a high speed train to florence, then another one to rome.