A beautiful decaying city and a sighting worthy of People Magazine.

A couple Sundays ago we, along with two other couples (Jake, Chelsea, Dusty, and Bianca) woke up early and jumped a 3 hour train ride to Venice. We tried to stay awake to enjoy the passing scenery but the combination of going to bed at 230am and waking up at 6am made it impossible. Fortunately for me, a foul-smelling woman decided to sit across from us, so I woke up and was able to enjoy the backdrop (while holding me breath to avoid inhaling the stench from our neighbor:)). The landscape was similar to what we imagine Tuscany will look like. Taber was able to stay asleep for a majority of the train ride, after playing 18 innings on Saturday night he was, understandably, wiped out. We can't put into words the feeling and astonishment we felt stepping out of the train station and laying our eyes on Venice for the first time. Although we have seen many photos of Venice, the real thing is more dreamlike than you could ever imagine.
We took a vaporetti(Venice's public transit system)to St Marks square. The vaporetti works just like city buses, the only difference being it floats and there are no traffic jams. Once we arrived at St. Marks square, we hit a traffic jam. Not a traffic jam but a traffic jam of tourist. There were so many people, most of them (us included) distracted by the grand buildings bordering St. Marks square and not paying attention to where they were walking. The most distracting structure, and most beautiful, was St. Marks church. It was built with gold, marble, and mosaic brought in by sea captains. It was the entrance fee to the city. Taber and I are thinking we should adopt this policy...every time you come to our home you must bring gold, marble,granite, or another fancy building material as an entrance fee. We will also accept shoes, jeans and golf clubs as payment. If our house is going to be a mini St. Marks church we must dress the part:). After making our way through the crowd of tourist, and the pigions, we started our search for a hotel. We did not search long. RIght around the corner from St. Marks square we found "Hotel Panada" which we renamed to "Panda Express". They offered us a good deal, we accepted, dropped our bags off in the room, and set out to explore Venice. We walked around for 4 hours taking in the magnificent beauty. We had a slight break halfway through...I had forgotten my wallet at the restaurant we had lunch, so Taber and I had to run (sprint) back to get it. I tried to tell Taber I did it on purpose, that I thought we should run to work off the pasta we had for lunch. He did not buy it. Luck was on my side, my wallet was still at the restaurant with my Euros tucked safely inside. By the time we got back to the Rialto Bridge, where we were meeting back up with our friends, the rain had started to pour down. We bought a couple of over priced umbrellas from a vender and were back on our way. We explored Venice the best way possible...by getting lost. We walked through the narrow streets with no end point in mind. While walking down one of the many narrow ally ways,we heard a man singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". 30 seconds later, while still singing, the man was walking towards us. It did not take long before we realized the crazy man signing was not just another tourist...it was Woody Harrelson! Taber almost brushed shoulders with his personal umbrella holder... yes he really did have a P.U.H..After he vanished around the corner, and we were in the middle of exchanging "oh my gosh that was Woody Harrelson" "Noway we just saw Woody Harrelson"... a blond beauty and a very handsome man passed us. It was Charlize Theron and Stuart Townsend (they were holding their own umbrella). Judging by the amount of money I waste on Gossip magazines, Taber was impressed by how composed I remained in the presence of two celebrities. I am not going to lie, I wanted to chase Charlize. If I had gotten a picture we could have made some big bucks by selling it to US Weekly. We later found out Selma Hyak had gotten married the day before our arrival.
The rain and wind started to slow us down so we stopped for some warm drinks by the grand canal. We were very surprised when we got the bill. Six euro for one tea and 6.50 euro for a cappuccino... there must have been some gold from St. Marks in the tea water for it to be that expensive. Restaurants and cafes by the canal are tourist traps. They charge more then double,charge service fee and sometimes a cover charge. We fell into the trap, but enjoyed sitting by the canal with our expensive drinks.
For dinner, we checked out numerous menus determined not to get stuck paying half a months salary for one meal. After searching for a moderate priced restaurant and one that would sit all 6 of us, yes one woman turned us away. we found a decent place. It was not amazing and our waiter was grumpy, but it felt good to sit down. After dinner we headed back to St. Marks Square. At night it becomes the biggest dance floor in Venice. The square is bordered with several cafes all with dueling orchestras playing in the front. The thousands of tourist we had gotten stuck in the traffic jam with had all disappeared into their hotel rooms for the night (we think the ran had something to do with it.) We did not let the rain stop us! It was just Taber, me, Chelsea, and Jake in the middle of the grand vacant St. Marks square dancing to "Under the Sea".
Shortly after dancing we headed back to "Panda Express" and called it a night. Despite being woken up every hour, we both slept very well. We were woken up by the enormous bronze men (moors) swinging colossal clappers at the top of each hour. The clock tower was right around the corner from our hotel. The Bronze men are cool to watch during the day, not cool to listen to while sleeping.

We started Monday off with breakfast and dirty water (American style coffee, it tasted delicious), then headed to St. Marks Church. Once inside the church our jaws immediately dropped. Every square inch of the church is regal, the walls and paintings are encrusted with real gold, floors made out of varies colored marble and gold mosaic, and 4750 square yards of byzantine mosaics. On the ceiling the story of Adam and Eve is etched on one dome and Noahs arc on another. Apparently the best pilings were used on the perimeter of buildings, which explains the dip and uneven floor.
Before heading back to the train, we bought a bag of chips to feed the pigeons. After opening the bag of chips it took no longer than 10 seconds before we each had 20 pigeons perched on us eating out of our hands. Taber's head even became a landing place. It happened so quickly we had no time to think about how many diseases they carry:). It was a very lively experience. Taber and I may start a pigeon business in Reggio. Here is a short version of our business plan... camp out in the town square with day old bread, sell it to tourist, and take a picture of them feeding the pigeons (with their camera). Anyone want to invest?
We headed back to the train station (after washing our hands), boarded the train, and slept for the entire ride home.
We loved Venice and plan to return when it is sunny, go for a gondola ride, and enjoy the vibrant colors of the buildings in the sun.