Tuesday July 10, 1990
Venice is Awesome!!! It is so beautiful, so romantic, so charming, so everything. It was nothing like I imagined. As soon as you walk out of the train station - you hit water. The entire city is built on canals and waterways. There is not one car in the entire city. Water taxis take you where you want to go. Romantic Gondolas lazily stroll across the water with lovers and newlyweds.
HDR photo by Dominic Kamp
On the train towards Venice, Danny and I met a gorgeous girl. She was from, where else? LA, and was traveling alone (with like 4 bags of luggage)! She was back-packing the hard way, I have no idea how she got from place to place, but she later told me she's been flying all over Europe, charging hotels and basically paying for high-end service along the way (nice way to travel!) Anyway we hooked up and decided to tour Venice together. It was nice to have a female to share the romantic experiences here in Venice. We went to a Dali museum here, drank more wine at dinner, strolled through the Piazza San Marco... very nice.
HDR photo by Trey Ratcliff, Stuck In Customs
The next day we walked around the city and took more water taxis, the more romantic way to get around town. We went to the 100th anniversary of Man Ray, a modern artists who created many different styles of art, sculpture, painting and photography. Then we went to Walker Adams, an amazing black and white photographer who had great shots of Selma, Alabama, New Orleans, Coney Island Mississippi - all capturing great realism of the 1930's.
Photo by MorBCN
The architecture in Venice, especially the Basilica di San Marco was fantastic. Classic Renaissance mixed with Byzantine formed the most beautiful buildings - and again, everything is on the water, so amazing. Venice really exceeded my expectations - wow - what a surprise. It felt like a moment in time that had a dream-like quality to it. But now, it's off to Spain for the Running of the Bulls!
Labels: Venice