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After about 3 days together, we said goodbye to Eric and Maxine; they went to Rome and we went to Venice. You know, canals, gondolas, the stuff that romantic dreams are made of. It's an unusual island, all carved up by waterways, and we saw it at the most touristy time -- a weekend. A bit too touristy for my taste...to the point where you feel like the natives resent our foreign ways. But, so be it. As you see (right), there are motor boats, as well as kayaks taking to the water. Anneke and I took what they call the "bus", which is a network of boats that make regular stops at stations all around the island. At the right, you see a photocopy from a map of their routes -- the original would have been color-coded and looks almost exactly like subway map you'd find in any city.
One of the most impressive things we saw there was the Academy Gallery, a museum of a whole lot of art, mostly the same old religious icons, but a few works of particular interest, including, on display, a few pages from Da Vinci's notebooks -- you know, that guy in a circle with a square. (I can't say I learned anything by seeing it in the original form.) Venice is actually a bit low in the ocean these recent centuries. You see (right, above) folks boating across St. Mark's Square; below, that same square long ago, in the midst of some morbid ceremony.
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