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| The skinny streets of Venice |
After a brief check-in with the strangest hostel-own I've met to date, Peter and I are off to see as many sights as we can that are listed in his revered travel book. We also have a map with special locations highlighted. Peter's philosophy is to cross reference with his guide and forget about all the sights that aren't in his book. "It must not be important" he reasons. I giggle and go along with it since there are too many X's on the map to get to in one afternoon.
Peter seems to be blindly following me so that too feels pretty good. I did get a little confused a couple times but with some gentle arguing we figured out where things were. I'm not sure how many bridges we crossed during the trek, somewhere close to 50 I think.
Our stops included chapels, shops, piazza, sainted squares, and famous bridges. The paintings in these chapels seem darker, in color and theme, than those of other cities. The very small church, San Rocco, had large dark paintings lining the walls and thick red drapes in the windows. What I remember most are the hanging lamps and wooden crucifix that seemed haunting. Perhaps it was a combination of the sun setting and the drapes keeping out the light or maybe just the strikingly gaunt look of the body, but I just can't seem to get that sculpture out of my head.
As we meandered around the curves, we finally made it to the big X on our map, San Marco's Square. We agreed that the bell tower would be the most unique and least time consuming thing to see at this hour and probably something more fun to do together. As we walked around the giant square, and passed shop after shop, beyond the grad piano playing outside the fancy restaurant and simple street musician entertaining the thousands of pigeons was the entrance to the tall structure. Inside we rode the largest elevator I’ve ever seen to the very top. This was taller than the leaning Tower of Pisa. It was huge.
Our last landmark today is the Rialto Bridge. Holding itself above the Grand Canal, this huge bridge is not only a beautiful piece of architecture, but it's covered in little shops. Marano glass shimmers in the windows of these little places and seems to just beg you to come in. I mean who could resist checking out a shop that is just hovering above the water? 
The walk back to our beds was long and full of tiny corridors, some that seemed nearly secret. I would wager that if If this city weren’t so beautiful, I think I would have noticed how long our walk was and how much my feet hurt. Yet, rows of houses that disappear into glassy depths, bricks and iron curved together into walkways, and stark black gondolas floating next to you are somehow a complete distraction. . . As are, apparently, the tiny creatures that grow just below the water’s surface. Some photos from other sources: http://www.museumplanet.com/image/venice/roc/roc007.jpg
http://www.hikenow.net/images/Venice/img/MapOfVenice.JPG
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