A Day In Venice, Italy, Part I

I recently read an article in the BLDG BLOG by Geoff Manaugh called "Post-Residential Venice", where he points out that Venice is said to be on course to becoming a city virtually without residents within the next 30 years. It seems that it could become something like a Disneyland, teeming with holidaymakers by day and ghostly empty by night except for a security guard here and there.

This image of Venice by night and being a security guard there keeps popping up in my mind since I read Manaugh's article. I had a very short-lived try at being a night security guard, which confirmed only too well that I'm a complete coward and scared of the dark, with too good an imagination.

And so I've found myself thinking of the day trip to Venice that we took a couple of years ago, where we had a great time - during the day.
We arrived on the train and crossed the bridge over the Grand Canal. The views from the bridge are tremendous.



Boats are docked along the edge of sidewalks like cars.














The canals are filled with gondolas and many small motorboats as well.


The smaller avenues of canal between the buildings offer much more quaint views, with small bridges criss-crossing along the way.










The buildings are very grand. Zooming in on the last photo you can see the many statues elaborately decorating the top of the building.




The gondolas are beautiful.













It's fun to see them making their way between the buildings.




Here's a top-view of one.









And, at a somewhat funny angle in the camera viewfinder, an even closer look shows the relative luxury of the seating, carpeting and ornate styling of the gondola.


The narrow streets were filled with people.







There are restaurants dotted all over the town, some in busy areas, while others are tucked away in more quiet, secluded places.




The canals wend their way around the buildings in irregular paths.


There are lots of things to see, with many narrow 'streets' and walkways.





The buildings are a mixture of many different styles. Stay tuned to see more of Venice.