Venice...the place of people.

No place like it on earth....not even the Venetian in Las Vegas. Which is why everyone and their sister seemed to be there the day we were there.

So crowded. Venice at Carnivale right before Lent....my first hand experience with the power of a crowd of people. We were there and I was 75-ish pounds heavier. The surge of the crowd picked me up off my feet and moved me from my place where I had been standing to a spot that was maybe three or four feet away. I was powerless to do anything about it.

I can't imagine being short and not being able to see or get air as the bodies press against you---it is enough to make you agoraphobic.

It was like this on Saturday. All the cruise ships vomit forth their passengers, all the loud student groups like ours descend like locusts, all the backpackers lounging on the steps, and bridges and piazza.

We didn't have time to break away from the crowds that infest the route from the train station, over the Rialto bridge to Piazza San Marco. The kids had gondola rides scheduled and I had a half hour to cop a squat on the step of a small chapel to wait for them and call my baby back home. Away from crowds, sitting in the sun, by the canal and quietly watch the gondolas drift by......Venice is a magical place...but sometimes you have find you own Venice to enjoy in your own way.