Piazza San Marco, Venezia. Tuesday, 5:00 pm. Among the several thousand international revelers converged on Tuesday afternoon at Piazza San Marco, this couple apparently synthesized this year's "Blame the Moon" theme with a hint of galactic cyberpunk. The afternoon fog added a touch of Venutian atmosphere.
Since my Venice architectural reconnaissance was planned as a pre-Carnivale miss-all-the-crowds jaunt, imagine my surprise arriving to find Venice SRO, and then some. Fortunately, decided on the out-of-the-way Santa Croce district’s Hotel San Cassiano, away from the festive, sort of, and far from the 21st century and the 19th. Very olde Venice charm, family-owned, some place the Durrells might have stayed or Inspector Clouseau. Here are a few glimpses of La Citta Aqua Alta on Tuesday afternoon.
The San Cassiano has Mar-a-Lago-sized chandeliers in the lobby hall with operating room wattage and eclectic multi-century Grand Canal decor.What San Cassiano may lack for not being modern or in luxury amenities, the setting and views from our dock and landing are magic. And the pizzeria around the corner is quite good.Grand Canal. The fog began to roll in around 4, so decided to curtail my jaunt to the Lido and go in the morning.The fog began to give the palazzi a haze.It appeared most of Tokyo was in Venice.By the time I disembarked beyond San Marco, the fog was thickening and the crowd was growing.As I neared San Marco, the crowd was in the thousands.Piazza San Marco was at capacity.Everyone was coming from and/or heading to …
L to R.: A Star Trek-Cirque du Soleil turn.; The simply sensational.And, the even more.A touch of Las Vegas.L to R.: A touch of class.; Madame Butterfly?A bit of a juggle …The mood was jolly.Waiting for the vaporetto, I met this really lovely couple from Bergamo.”We stay in Padova, not in Venice.”L to R.: Versace emerging from the fog.; Not enough?Grand Canal, just beyond the Rialto on Riva del Vin. No one could clearly explain to me what this sign means …
