And Outside The Rain Fell...

What can be said of Venice that hasn't been said already? Venezia. Romance. Gondolas. Murano glass. Laces. And the masks. Pure, unadultered charm.

From point 0, there was surprisingly little to see in the town. Except for the huge Roman church, Venice was all about the experience. Amongst the most romantic and picturesque ones. Very nearly utopian.

Yet if you look closely, there's nothing remarkable about the city. A few miles of canals that replace roads almost entirely. Hundreds of bridges, often providing direct access to houses, crossing the many canals.
Jet black Gondolas, lazily wading through the canals, complete with a man in striped t-shirt and black trousers navigating the Gondola through, complete with his hat and red ribbon, a long wooden oar and a couple sitting cosily in the middle. Oh, yeah, a labyrinth like city, with a hundred million roads branching off everywhere, leading to high arched roofs, dead ends and seldom used canals. It was impossible to not get lost in Venice. And I know very people who wouldn't want to get lost here.

Morning brought us to Venice, with lots and lots of sunlight finally.

Treating ourselves to the biggest pizza I've ever seen (it was one helluva large pizza), and doing some hilarious jugad, tapping Venice's underground water supply for our drinking water needs, we were off. Criss crossing many shops, hundreds of charming bridges, many gondolas and houses, houses that seemed to be falling off their foundations, peering precariously close to the water's edge, often having doors that directly opened to the water. Venice had me smitten completely. Thoroughly. I could sit there for hours by a little used bridge, doing random bakar on everything from history to college, and just spending the day thus.

Needless to say, soon enough, we were lost. Hopelessly. Fun. With only a very vague set of direction. Evening brought out the best in Venice, for we had almost passed off the entire day doing little but walk around, exploring pretty little souvenir shops that sold fantastic Venetian masks, thoroughly enjoying the moment. Rounding up with Pizza for dinner too, and walking around some more (much to the chagrin of PritS who complained we hadn't 'seen' everything that Venice had to offer).

I think somewhere around, everyone made a little promise in the corner of their hearts, a promise that promised to be back some day. Some day. The Gondola ride remains. The memory remains.