First night in Venezia

Greetings from Venezia! After a brief but spectacular lightning/thunder/downpour storm in Milano, I successfully boarded the train to Venice about midday today. It was not one of the high speed ones, but a fast enough express – but very crowded. Then I found my way to the public boat (vaporetto) dock, and boarded #1 (also very crowded) , which, 50-minutes and fifteen stops down the Grand Canal later (I counted them on the map), dropped me off at San Marco. The Hotel Firenze is tiny -- really tinhy -- but kind of elegant in a miniature old style way, and only one short block from the vaporetto dock, and one short block from the Piazza di San Marco. I was (and am) pretty tired, so I walked around aimlessly a bit, had some gelato and then dinner (the same as I had in Milan – carbonara and a salad – but much better) – life is short, they say, so eat dessert first! It’s now about 9:00 pm (21:00) local time, and I’ll be in bed soon. Tomorrow should be a packed day of San Marco, other churches and museums – and who knows what! Weather in Venice was uncomfortably humid this afternoon, and comfortably cool this evening.

Although this is the way the sky looked at one point this afternoon, I didn't take this picture. It's a painting by Canaletto around 1730. It was a lot cleaner back then! (They are beginning a cleaning/restoration process. Your grandkids -- if you have small children now -- might see it.)