Ah, Italia...

Fashion choices aside (hey it was the early 90s...man, those shorts are high waisted.), I like this picture. It is one of our day trips to Venice when I was working in Padova. Maybe 20 minutes east on a train and you are in Venice, or at least the train station. Then, you either walk across a bridge, hop a vaporetto (basically a city bus...except for the the fact that it is a boat.) or catch a water taxi and you can go anywhere in Venice.

I love Venice. Simply because there are very few places like it on earth, and it is my favorite water city simply for that fact and the fact that it is in Italy. We would go for the day when we lived in Padova. I felt very cosmopolitan. It became a common, normal thing to do:

"What do you want to do on our day off this week?" "I dunno. I guess we could go to Venice again." Who says that???

You go, you walk around, you shop a little, you people watch, you cannot get lost people. It is an island. I mean you can get disoriented---sure, you can get frustrated if you are actually trying to find something...but dollar for dollar, you cannot find a better place to just meamble, I mean--meander. I actually like meamble better. You are ambling and meandering: walking at a slow, but steady gait, sort of with a purpose but in no general direction. A perfect description of how to best take in Venice on your first trip.

Venice at Carnivale was the only time in my life I have been physically picked up and moved without my consent. There were so, so, soooo many people in the Piazza San Marco (Where this picture was taken in the spring time after Carnivale had come and gone). People were pushing and not really shoving...but trying to move. I was literally picked up off my feet and moved about 2 feet. I can't imagine the claustrophobia if I were short. Seriously. You wouldn't be able to breathe. But it was worth it; the costumes, the drama, the people watching. Everything. I heart it. I love it.