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Venice, the magical city built on water, full of romance and wonder, blah blah blah. You've heard it before. OK, Venice is truly unique. But unfortunately, all of humanity knows this and seems okay with exploiting it in one way or the other. Upon visiting in late October, certainly not peak tourist season, I was overwhelmed with the crowds and numbers of tourists who descended upon there. Part of the reason Venice is sinking I contend is due to the weight of all of the tourists who mob its streets.

On the other hand, it is a beautiful city and you should see it, but just give yourself a day or two and move on. You don't want to contribute to its sinking any more after all, do you?

Quite a lovely sight, eh? Of course here you are with loads of other tourists all around you. But it is pretty.	This is us waiting for the public water transport. We traveled by the public ferries most of ferries the entire time in Venice and in Lido.
This is a view from the ferry as you leave the Grand Canal. In Venice, buildings were built meant to be approached by water, thus in general the most stunning facades are on the water side. Often the street entrances are quite plain.	Here is the Piazza de San Marco, home of palaces, government buildings, and the Cathedral of course. This area does get flooded by acqua alta occasionally, thus there are many postcards you can buy that show boats navigating this large open area.
You can buy lots of t-shirts in front of the cathedral here.	Here is the Doges Palace, home of royalty and seats of government. Very dark, lots of pictures of angels and saints in pain and what not.
Here is the upper facade of the cathedral. I included it because of the size of the ornamental bronze horses; check them out compared to the people.	Finally a small break from the hordes of tourists. You can see in the background the tents which are mobbed with shoulder to shoulder tourists. And this was late October! I can't imagine being here in the summer.
This is a one of the many picturesque bridges in Venice	Not your usual doorway in most cities (r). Note the leaning of the building on the left.
Here's some of the elaborate artwork & architecture that is interesting to look at	Just your average delivery boat.
Fall colors in Venice	This was a bit before the bird flu concern hit Europe.