Venice the second

I did full-on Venicing today - that is to say, random wanderings to nowhere in particular. When you're tired of walking you get on a vaporetto for a while. When the vaporetto gets so crowded that you're afraid it's going to sink you get off and walk for a while. It's the perfect system.

Just so you don't think Venice is entirely too amazing to be real - this is the view from my room, which I have to stand on the bed to see. Actually, it's quite cool. That's what Venice looks like on the inside!

Winged lion, symbol of Venice. And of the fearsome power of genetic modification.

Gondola jam.

Campanile di San Marco. You can't tell, but when I took the picture it was going off. All around the piazza the cafes have live music and all the musicians have to stop when the bells ring.

Basilicata di San Marco. It's hard to get a good photo of all of it because that fence protecting the campanile is right there, but you get the idea.

Caffe Florian. I paid...ack...I paid 17.50 to have a hot chocolate there. In Euros. At first I was all "But that's what you do in Venice", then "Oh well, I'm on holiday", but to be honest I just couldn't make myself feel alright about it. It was a good hot chocolate, and it came with a souvenir programme and I stole the sugar sachets and part of the cost was the "supplemento musico" for the musicians that are playing out there, but still. Too excessive, and with the interior decoration to match.

Winged lion on a pole match.

Chiesa della Salute again. I called out "Buon giorno lepers!" and a voice came back "It's Hansen's Disease, you jerk!"

This building is made entirely of art.

After many attempts (it's difficult on a boat) I finally got a picture down a canal of bridge through bridge through bridge. High five!

There's a whole area around the back where about half a dozen of these giant cruise ships are docked. I think this is the Backstreet Boys cruise. Buon giorno lepers!

It's not my pictures that are crooked, it's the buildings, dammit!

I wandered off the tourist track and came across neighbourhoods with real live washing hanging between the buildings. Super authentic.

Italian Coke cans are molto elegante compared to New Zealand ones.

I even had my very own angel watching over me as I ate lunch. By the way, how good is spaghetti Carbonara! It's like an omelette made out of pasta. It's breakfast for lunch. It's all things to all people.

This is a hospital. It's amazing inside too, but I didn't take pictures because it felt weird to be all touristy right where people are signing papers to have life support turned off and whatever.

The bells, the bells! They've been ringing all day. It was Easter Sunday so there was probably extra dongings to commemorate every braaaaains that Zombie Jesus ate. The ones (bells, not brains) that woke me up sounded like they were playing the theme tune from M*A*S*H. 

And finally, a friendly doggy out for a walk. I don't usually like animals, but this guy was cool.