Venice

I've never been to a city quite like Venice before (no offense Suzhou). Normally, when you step out of a train station, you expect to see taxis parked alongside the street, with cars and buses driving by. In Venice however, you are immediately greeted by the canal, which was a very odd sight. I mean sure, Venice... canals... water everywhere, I knew that. But when I first saw it for myself, it was something very surreal.

We checked into our hotel on Murano Island and decided to do some exploring. Our impression of Venice that night was that it was very old and neglected. Mold and rotted away wood creeped up alongside the building as it met the water. Paint chipped away on the exterior and many places had their windows boarded up. Maybe our not-so positive view of the city was coupled with the fact we were on a train for 9 hours and we managed to get lost... and then lost some more, even with a city map in hand.

Our next day completely changed our minds about Venice. Funny how a good night's sleep and some sunshine could make chipped paint and rotting wood seem charming.

Our first order of business was to get our glass shopping on. Apparently glass making on Murano dates back 700 years, and what better way to celebrate such history than to visit every glass shop on the island (some twice).

After our mini-shopping spree, we headed out into Venice and strolled along the water under the sun:


to Basilica di San Marco:


which overlooked the Piazza San Marco:


Then at night, we took the Vaporetto (water bus) through the Grand Canal (the main canal that cuts through Venice) to Lido Island.

Oh, and in case anyone's wondering if we went on a Gondola...


... best 80 euros... ever.