Floods in Venice, etc.

Our travels for the past week or so have met with some interesting weather. You might have read something about the acqua alta that hit Venice last week.



Will awoke early that morning to some friendly air-raid sirens. Apparently I can sleep through something like that-- my resting powers are unstoppable. Next thing we knew, the lady who managed the apartment we were renting was at the door taking all the furniture up off of the floor and securing the place for the expected onslaught of water. She was really funny about it, just kept sort of smiling and shrugging, saying "Venice!"

It seemed as if it should have been a freakier thing, but it sort of made sense. Everyone, resident and tourist alike, just rolled wtih it. The city put up these temporary wooden walkways everywhere, residents (like the waiter above) got out their waders and some tourists scrapped all hopes for dryness, took off their shoes, rolled up their pants and trudged barefoot in the knee-high waters. That's what you get in exchange for all those charming little canals!

Besides water-filled weather and a couple of strange encounters with pigeons (we found one dead on the floor near a mosaic peacock in St. Mark's Church, then another, um, relieved itself on my coat sleeve outside of a shop), Venice was an incredibly alluring city. It's really built for tourists, but there's something very dark and mysterious in all of those tiny alleys and canals. It's also home to Peggy Guggenheim's phenomenal modern art collection, housed in her equally phenom palazzo on the other side of the canal. We got there by a 50-cent gondola ride.

After Venice, we spent a nice day in Verona. We stayed in this funny little hotel in the center of town. It was run by a sweet sweet sweet little old lady, who I think was also in charge of the interior design.



After Verona, we hit the Slow Food Festival in Torino, another city we both really liked. I have photos of it, which I'll share just as soon as I remember to buy some batteries for my camera-- poor pictures have been trapped in there for a few days now.

We're currently in Berlin, and have found yet another city to fall in love with. Feels like all the good parts of downtown New York, which is a nice sort of warm-up for heading back home.

We're off to explore... more later!