Arriving

So you arrive at the bus station, get onto the train from the mainland, walk through the train station and, bam!!!, there you are in Venice. On the Grand Canal, no less, across from the Church of San Simonene. And, along with us are thousands of other people on tour...suitcases and cameras in hand...coming to or going from this city.




Some waiting for that boat to pick them up but others...




send their luggage ahead...and, yes, they crowd the city but...



what I found more impressive in terms of crowds were the thousands of students who come each day to attend the schools and universities in the city....passing over modern and not so modern bridges on their way to class.



The students, perhaps, represent more of the future of Venice and Italy...in contrast to those of us who have come to observe the famous past of this place. A city built on these lagoons for defense but grown wealthy by its control of trade routes from the Near East, the Black Sea, Constantinople, and the rest of Europe...even to those Germanic peoples living on the other side of the Alps we came down from yesterday.

Location:Veneztia