Venice

Then we went to Venice to the place where water reigns supreme.  Stepping out from the train terminal you are confronted with the grand canal right out in front of you, and you realize that the city actually is just on water.  You knew it before, and studied it and read all about it, but somehow it just isn’t the same as standing there and seeing that the water flows between all the buildings just as streets cut through our normal cities.  So we hopped on our water taxi and set off on our watery world.  The lack of cars alone is enough to make you rethink everything about cities.  The tiny streets get so skinny that two people have to turn and squeeze by each other.  Being able to touch the two sides of the street at the same time is a normal occurrence. 

Touring around the city was exciting and fun to see the differences between Venice and the other cities that we have seen.  The facades of the buildings all face the water and the smell of the water never leaves your nose.  The highlight of the buildings there was in fact nothing old and historic, but the works of Carlo Scarpa.  Having focused so much on the historic parts of all the cities, Scarpa seemed so ruthlessly clear in his knowledge of materials and how they are put together.