Venice - Welcome

Venice Entrance

One thing I noticed about Italy and it's different cities is that they are like an Italian family, all related, but with entirely different personalities. With that said Venice was like the crazy uncle that always had everyone laughing at the dinner table.

Venice - Gondola

The Gondola is symbol of master Venetian craftsmanship. They are built to list to one side so when the gondolier stands to the other side the craft sits straight in the water. Aside from gondolas the city conducted most of it business through these waterways.
One interesting thing I saw was a "mason boat" (my own terminology.) It was a long boat with a cement mixer mounted in the middle. There was cement, sand and gravel on one side with a tender, and the masons worked on the other side. If work needed to be done on the front of a building they pulled up to it and went to work.

Venice - Piazza San Marco

The Piazza San Marco is a beautiful square and the largest square in Venice. It's a must see if your in Venice, pigeons know this as well. It was like playing a game of bird-twister walking across the square. The architecture was incredible to see.

On the otherside of the Piazza was the Piazzetta that opened into the lagoon at the mouth of the Grand Canal. Two tall pillars stood at the waters edge and top of them were statues of Venice's two patron saints Marco and Todaro (see insets.) Between the two columns was the
site of executions. Our guide said all the people you see passing between the columns are tourists . Because of local superstitions no local Venetians will pass through them.
Did I walk between?. . .um, no. Why tempt fate?
As always, click picture for larger view

Venetian Glass Blowers

Venice is world-renowned for their Blown glass craftsmanship. They had incredible examples of their talent. I was lucky enough to witness one of their artists in action. They seemed very weary of me and my camera and come to find out later they have had problems of people photographing technique and replicating the famous Venetian glass. There's only about 8 people in Venice that are skilled masters in this art.