“Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs in one go.” ~Truman Capote

Today we said farewell to some of our friends in our travel group. left Amsterdam and flew to Venice. The view from the plane was incredible.

We soon retrieved our luggage and found our driver who delivered us to the last drop-off spot outside of the city of Venice to walk to our hotel. Although google maps said it was a 15-minute walk it did not account for carrying our bags over uneven walkways and up many steps over the canals. Nonetheless, we made it and settled in, found a lovely spot for lunch, unpacked, and found our tour guide for a 3-hour walking/canal taxi tour.

 “ To build a city where it is impossible to build a city is madness in itself, but to build there one of the most elegant and grandest of cities is the madness of genius .” ~Alexander Herzen

We walked through a tangled maze of streets to huge piazzas, which are public squares or marketplaces meant as gathering places.

We crossed bridge after bridge after bridge. The water taxi provided a different view of the city.

“I loved her from my boyhood,—she to me
Was as a fairy city of the heart,
Rising like water columns from the sea,
Of joy the sojourn and of wealth the mart;
And Otway, Radcliffe, Schiller, Shakespeare’s art,
Had stamped her image in me, and even so,
Although I found her thus, we did not part,
Perchance even dearer in her day of woe
Than when she was a boast, a marvel, and a show”

~Lord Byron, Venice