""Streets full of water,Please advise" " a Venice Travel Page by hquittner

When Robert Benchley wired that immortal quip to the New Yorker Magazine(in 1932) the aqua alta(AA) was extremely rare(and he never experienced it).This was our 5th trip to Venice and the water was both an experience and an exasperation.Venice is not sinking (according to recent studies) but the Adriatic is rising (due to global warming, if God and GW Bush do not stop it).More on what to do about it under Dangers.. In our case, the water reduced our sightseeing each of the 2 days we were there and much of our seeing was from the balcony of our Hotel on the Riva di Spagna watching the poor souls who had arrived by train trudge down the daily erected boardwalk to their destinations on higher ground. By mid-afternoon everything was back to normal, and shortly the day-trippers were gone. The sight was so entertaining that I forgot to take pictures most of the time! The Venetians take the flood in their stride, the school children trot home thru it for lunch in their rubber waders, the shops that are above water stay open, the locals know which streets to navigate, they never get lost in Venice(?).There are electronic signs at the pontile(vaporetto stops) giving the time and height of the AA for the cognoscenti (but not us).It also detailed which pontile were closed for vaporetto traffic.

Our arranged stay included another different experience as well. We landed at Marco Polo Airport and since we were a small group they scheduled us to go by motor taxi to our Hotel Principe which had a dock (and restaurant) on the Canalazzo(Grand Canal). The boat was fast and the sea was rough. It calmed when we entered the Rio de Noal and the GC to the dock, What a splendid way to greet an old friend! Just like Liz Taylor we were portered to our room (even if it wasn't the best suite in the Gritti Palace). We went along with our included morning guided tour: vaporetto to the Rialto and skillful dry walk which ended at the submerged Piazza di San Marco at noon. On your own dearies for 1&1/2 days! The Correr is on high ground so we went there. A special exhibit of Turner's early (carefully never previously shown) sketches and watercolors of Venice showed that he forgot to burn them. Not the Turner he later became. We should have revisited the permanent exhibits instead. To remedy this visual defect we found our way to the Scuola degli Schiavoni (see Off the B.P.) with lunch enroute. Taking a wrong turn we were in the watery streets of the Castello and lost! We eventually corrected course and returned to San Marco.

No traffic! We seniors can take Venice at our own pace! The city is only 3000m end to end(and 400m from Rialto to San Marco).There are 2 Venices: an outside one (facades) and an inside(museums, palaces ("Ca")and art -filled churches).Children (even terminal teen-agers)enjoy playing reward games like "find the most lions" (or pozzos) or recognize the steeple(pictures provided). Great stonework is in every calle. Look! The Accademia is not intimidating to a first-time Art voyeur. Giorgione's "Tempest" stops teen-agers in their tracks! While Basilica San Marco isn't Chartres, it is a close second.Every sightseer has his top 10 for Venice. Our other 8 are: Doges' Palace,view from Campanile top,Scuola San Rocco, Ca d'Oro,Torcello, S.M.della Salute &dei Frari, and a complete ride of the G.C. For those into Modern Art substitute the Guggenheim for the Ca d'Oro. And everyone should ride a traghetto!(see OBP).To properly appreciate Venice dig into a couple of guide (NOT travel) books and for Art beginners Rick Steves' "Mona Winks" and other great works . Venice has generated more writing than anywhere else.VT, good as it is , cannot provide enough background.In oder to SEE you must KNOW.