Venice

Saint Simeone Piccolo from the train station, the first thing we saw in Venice.

View from our hostel's balcony. The large, open square is connected to a church. A church that holds very early, and loud, services on Sunday. A choir of the faithful woke us up way ahead of checkout time Sunday morning .Gondoliers below our hostel. The boats are individual works of art, with carvings and adornments unique to each vessel. However, a ride in one will cost you an easy 60-100 Euro.

The hostel was a bit on the dirty side. Actually, I thought it was downright filthy. But it had a huge common area and a great mix of twenty-somethings from every English-speaking country. We even met a few girls from FSU. They sucked.
Feeling good.

Feeling better.
Gondolas and canals, a Venice staple.
The Grand Canal.
He looks like he deserves to be eaten.


The Lion of Venice. Every city is covered in lions, and every city has its own take on the beast; this form just happens to be my favorite in Italy.
St. Mark's square. This place is crowded from sunup to long after sunset, with live music and a few restaurants that looked far too expensive for us to even walk by.
Disgusting. St. Mark's is covered in pigeons, and idiot tourists who are all too happy to feed them. None of Darwin's laws hold true for these vermin, as you see malformed and hobbled birds feeding with the rest of the flock. People speculate the next bird flu outbreak coming from Asia, but I'll put money on the next virulent strain coming straight from St. Mark's square. This place even smells like bird flu. And I don't think there are enough shotgun shells in the world to put a dent in St. Mark's pigeon population. This ends my rant.


Great parenting Mom and Dad, now your children have bird flu.
St. Mark's Cathedral. The line was around the block and it cost 10 Euro to enter, so we took what was free and admired the exterior.

Enjoying a few Bellini's at Harry's Bar, Papa Hemingway's old haunt. This is a world-famous drink in a world-famous bar, as evidenced by their 15 Euro price tag. For your 15 Euro you get champagne, peach and orange puree and a tiny glass. They were excellent.

Alex in St. Mark's, at dusk. The entire square actually floods on a regular basis, as Venice sits right at sea level. We saw post cards of people paddling kayaks through the square.


This is the second time we found Pat, a fellow Panther, in Italy. We saw him in Campo di Fiori while in Rome, and again as we were leaving for Vienna. Small world.