and the rain fell upon the land for forty days and forty nights - genesis 7:1

Our final day in Venice was a spectacular one and though we didn't do much, it was still one of my favorite days of the whole trip. While we were sleeping, it had rained and rained, so much so that we were able to experience a completely different side of Venice. When flooding occurs in the States, it seems like a natural disaster and what damage is done is a terrible loss. Venice seems to ignore flooding. Well, not ignore it, but water and boating is so much a part of their society that they've adapted to dealing with the flooding. Citizens wear boots that go up to their thighs, stands sell temporary rain boots which are like a trashbag with plastic pieces in the bottom, and platforms about 1.5 ft high are set up so that you can walk from dry dock to dry sidewalk without having to wade through 1-2 feet of water. Restaurants and shop owners have brooms at the ready to sweep and clean out the excess water once the water levels drop, and they all stay open for business...even if there's a foot of water.

What's also great is that since everything is done by boat, boats can continue to run and deliver packages, the mail and the police are always on the alert. The only problem is that with high water levels, only small boats can continue to move in and out of the small, side canals. Anne and I began to compare Venice to its own water planet where there are no cars and everything has been made to work on water. It's magnificent and truly spectacular to observe the Venetian society. We could barely walk anywhere before hitting a street that had flooded, thereby forcing us to turn around, and yet I was in love with everything that was happening around me. It was one of the coolest things ever. I'm pretty sure Anne was sick and tired of hearing my say how much I loved what was going on.

We started out the day by getting off the boat at the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Salute. When the boat stopped at San Marco, it was crazy how different it looked compared to the day before. There were still a number of people around but there was at least 1-2 feet of water in the entire square outside the Doge's Palace, and we finally learned what the funny looking picnic tables were for. They were actually elevated "sidewalks" which were metal legs with wooden tops covered in concrete to make them non slippery. The church was very empty and quiet and a little dark but I was still able to appreciate the architecture.

Outside, we took a little walk but weren't able to get very far because after the first bridge we took, we hit water. It went on for a ways and unless we wanted to get soaked, turning around was the better idea.

Back on the boat, I sat in awe of everything going on...all the seamless changes that Venice had made to accommodate the rise in water, and yet how they seemed completely oblivious to it all.

We saw some girls with a suitcase and without blinking and eye, began to wade into the water lifting the bag above. As it was still pretty gloomy out, it was no surprise to see almost all of the gondolas tied up and covered, but those who did want a gondola ride got one on the rocky, wild, Grand Canal since the boats couldn't fit under the bridges leading into the side canals. We got off the boat at Ponte di Rialto, a covered bridge similar to Ponte Vecchio, but more artistic in its outer appearance.

It took a bit of maneuvering to get from the dock to the bridge, as we were limited to walking on the elevated sidewalks and not falling off. I was also still awestruck and kept stopping to gape at what was happening around me. I'm pretty sure I'm doing a terrible job in describing how interesting the flooding was, but I hope the pics I have do it some justice.

We had wanted to wander this area a bit more, but the water stopped us from going very far. We looked in the shops on the bridge and a few more that were still above water, but there were few and far between that were accessible. Next place we tried was San Marco which was better only because they had plenty of elevated platforms to walk on. A police officer stood by directing foot traffic and the water level was low on the shopping side of the square so we wandered in that area again. Though we'd been there the day before, it seemed like we'd missed many of the small streets so off exploring we went.


By 1:00pm or so, Anne and Lauren headed off for the train station and I found an expensive internet cafe to plop myself down in and kill some hours with. My night train to Munich wasn't til later in the evening and I would have liked to wander the city more, but my lack of rainboots and the burden of my suitcase prevented me from doing so. By evening I had made my way back to the central station, hopped on a train to the Venice mainland station and found my bed in the same bunk as a cute Japanese family. The parents had 2 little kids with them, a toddler boy and a baby girl who were really cute and behaved. They asked if I didn't mind taking the top, which was fine by me and I promptly fell asleep.

Santa Croce and farewell to Firenze

Our night spent in Florence was nice, especially since we had a private room. Sure it was a teeny room and our three beds only had about a foot of room between each one, but we didn't have to worry about roommates and keeping our stuff in our suitcases. And we had our own little private sink. There were 2 bathrooms on the floor and the one right next door was very convenient for the use of the toilet but the shower...not so much. This bathroom had a separate area for the shower, but no curtain or divide in the floor. If you turned it on, the water would go everywhere. You could like use the sink while taking a shower. Interesting, but not convenient.

We had purchased tickets to Venice for around 2 in the afternoon so we had a relaxing morning and slept in a little before packing our bags, checking out and taking a nice walk to Santa Croce. Neither Anne, Lauren or myself had originally planned on wanting to go there, but when we were up in the Campanile at the Duomo we saw it in the distance and wondered what this large church was. It's black and white marble with infusions of pale pink, which by this point I began to attribute to the architecture of Tuscany, stood out against the red tiled roofs. We looked up what church it was while chilling in the hotel room and learned it was Santa Croce, the church housing the tombs of Galileo and Michaelangeo as well as many other notables.

The interior was like any other church, open and wide with space to roam. The ceiling was detailed woodwork, very impressive and unique compared to what I'd seen before.


Tombs covered the walls around the entire place, replacing what were side chapels in other churches. Galileo's was nice and the stonework well done, but I didn't know what the people were supposed to represent.

Michaelangelo's tomb was simialar in size and shape to Galileo's but you could stand much closer to it and they had an information plaque. And it was in English. I can't remember who designed his tomb, but the 3 women represent each aspect of art Michaelangelo influenced and took part in. The sculpture woman, for example, holds a small block and a chisel. Each has a pensive, melancholy expression establishing the mood of the place. I thought it was very interesting and enjoyed looking at the details carved into the marble.

At various locations throughout the church, were the graves of former Florentines but instead of having just a headstone placed into the floor, the graves were marked by a carving in the shape of a human, symbolic of who was buried beneath. These weren't carved deep enough that it created a hole, but they were definitely not even ground.

The only other tomb name I recognized was Machiavelli. He wrote some famous book, I want to say it had "Prince" in the title, but I can't remember. I was supposed to read it for a class in college, but I didn't. Yet somehow I was able to write a piece long enough to get a pass on my homework.

Along the church walls, you could see where old paintings/frescoes had been discovered, many which still had bold colors. It really showed the age of the building and the evolution of art and style.



The rest of the church were large side chapels and then a, what I will call, annex portion where there was a leather store and some other large, open rooms with gorgeous paintings of the crucifxion of Jesus. There was also an semi-underground tomb area and pretty yard art in the courtyard. When we were finished there was still a little while before we were to catch our train so we wandered around the city on the opposite side of the river. Walking along the river was really nice cuz it gave us great views of the large houses sitting on the hillside.


Our time was up in Florence. Perhaps if we had more money and more time we'd have seen more, but in only 1.5 days I could certainly feel how culturally different this city was to Rome. Bustling, but on a much smaller scale, Florence felt like a tight little community, very safe and quaint. A place I would definitely recommend to friends.

money, money, money; must be funny; in a rich man's world

Being the neurotic, organized person I am, before I set about traversing Europe, I spent probably 4-6 weeks planning everything. From housing to transportation to estimations on the cost of food, I budgeted for everything. Before I left, I was going to know exactly how much money I would be spending. I knew there would be some additional expenses I wouldn't be able to account for exactly such as night train fees, but even these I put into my budget. What I didn't plan for, which is bad because it made me frustrated that I would have to spend more, was expenses due to unknown fees as well as what I will call "cultural expenses."

Reservation fees for the trains was the first big shocker. The EuroRail Pass was great and all the information provided online was quite helpful in terms of telling me what I needed to do when I got to Europe. In Paris and Italy, most of the trains I would be taking needed advance reservations, so when I got to Paris I went to the train station and made reservations. From what I remember, the EuroRail information said there would be fees for reservations, but I took that to mean that the fees were going to be only a few Euros. NOPE! Some had fees as much as 10-15 while others were as little as 5. And that is PER train ticket, not just for the collective purchase. With all the train travel I had planned on, those fees added up quick and sooner than I could blink I was out 75 Euros.

Another un-thought-of expense: internet. Some of the hostels I stayed in were really nice and had free internet. Some were not as nice and made you pay. And the fee was, in my opinion, a little high. Something like 1Euro for 10 minutes. Then when the hostels didn't have internet, or I needed to kill time and didn't feel like reading for fear of dozing off, I ventured into the internet cafes and depending on the location, some were nice (4Euro+soda for 1 hour) and some where pricey (5Euro for 30 minutes, I think). Though I probably could have done without some of those visits and held myself back from paying at the hostels, I am a sucker for the internet, and did, on many occasions need it to communicate with Anne in Vienna.

Lastly, there were the "cultural expenses." There were 2 that I encountered that, while I love many aspects of Europe, these things made me miss home a LOT: 1) Paying to pee and 2) Paying for tap water. I call these "cultural expenses" because almost all the other things I spent money on are kinds of things I would spend money on back home in the USA: reservation fees, museum entrance tickets, etc. Paying to pee and paying for tap water are both things I've never seen at home and have attributed as ways of the Europeans.

To me, going to the bathroom is part of human nature. Heck its part of all breathing creature's nature. Therefore, no one should have to pay a fee to use a facility that is built for this aspect of human nature. That's just cruel. What if I didn't have change on me, and my bowel decided to go on an adventure one morning? Or my monthly visitor decided to come a little early? What would I do then? The cities of Europe don't want me to relieve myself on the street corner, do they? No...because its unsanitary and I would get arrested. Therefore, you shouldn't have to pay to pee. It's just cruel. Especially in a train station!

Water is another thing I think is ridiculous to pay for when it doesn't come in a bottle. Before ordering water in the Italian restaurants I went to with Anne and Lauren, we had to ask if the it cost anything. If it did, I wasn't getting it. I had my water bottle on me and would gladly drink from that instead. We're already paying for the food and service, so I was not going to pay for water I could get by going into their bathroom and refilling my water bottle from the faucet.

I don't know where either of these "cultural expenses" come from and why they are in place, but I don't like them. I know someone could probably tell me why there are fees like this, but it doesn't make them any less annoying.

a traveler without observation is a bird without wings - moslih eddin saadi

We arrived back in Florence around noon and immediately began sightseeing. The Duomo complex was first and it was really magnificent. Though the interior wasn't terribly spectacular save for the frescoes on the dome ceiling, the facade of the cathedral, battistero and campanile (bell tower) were fabulous. The white and black with splashes of pink marble created a gorgeous pattern of stone. The brightness of the stone really contrasted well with the bright red roofs of the city allowing for the buildings to really stand out. After seeing a similar style of architecture in Siena, I assumed this was a Tuscan thing since Rome had nothing like this and when we went to Venice later, the architecture was vastly different. In addition, the carving work, though not as intense as Notre Dame, was still worthy of great praise.

As I said above, the interior of the cathedral wasn't that interesting. Like most other European churches there were side chapels containing statues, tombs and paintings and the rest of the cathedral was open and empty. There were only a few pews set up but this may be so in high tourist season it doesn't get too crowded.

The frescoes on the dome ceiling were really pretty and I wish I'd gotten a picture in focus. The colors were bright with lots of yellows and blues. The layout of the frescoes were unique as well since it had concentric circles, each with different images in the layers. Another unique facet of the Duomo was that the gift shop was in the basement adjacent to the tomb entrance. All the original foundation stonework is there so they have items laid out on rocks jutting out of the walls.

One thing that I didn't like about Florence was that everything had an admission price, unlike a lot of places in Rome which were free, and that the admission prices weren't 2-4 Euros, but 6-8 which puts a damper in plans when you're on a budget. The Duomo admission prices were no different so we had to decide whether to spend our money to climb the Duomo (485? steps) or the Campanile. A hostel roommate of mine in Rome told to me that if you could only do one, the Campanile is the better option because you get a view of the famous Red Roof Dome. If you're on the Dome, yes you're a little higher and you might feel more accomplished, but you don't get to see it in all its glory. Therefore, to the Campanile we went. By this point I was getting much better at climbing stairs in an efficient manner without losing my breath after 10 steps and not slowing down the people behind me. Even so, the different floors of the Campanile offered a nice breaking point and I got to see the carvings alongside the Duomo really close up.

From the top of the tower the 360 degree view of Florence was gorgeous! Red roofs seemed to go into the distance forever, much like Siena so it must be another Tuscan thing.

From the roof we had a wonderful view of the Dome on the Duomo, we could see the Medici Chapels, Palazzo Vecchio, Piazza della Repubblica, and Santa Croce, all places we had yet to visit. Seeing the layout of the city beforehand helped me a lot because when you're in a foreign city, knowing where things are in relation to one another helps a lot with direction. I also saw how small Florence was in comparison to Rome and Paris. Most things we were going to, or wanted to see, were within 15-20 minutes walking distance.