Venice,
Veneto,
Italy
Saturday, May 16, 1981
We stayed on the Lido, which is the resort area on the Adriatic coast just across the harbour from Venice itself.. Our accomodation was a run-down youth hostel that was near enough to the beach to compensate for its serious lack of amenities, notably hot water and any kind of security. A short pedestrian ferry took us across to the City of Venice (Venezia) and we spent a great day exploring the city. St. Mark's square was very busy as usual and there was no end of art galleries and shops. I stumbled across a great art show that featured Picasso, Goya, Dali and other notables that was truely impressive. Strangely enough, I was to see almost the identical show, featuring the same artists and the same works twenty-three years later in downtown Seoul! What are the odds of that happening?
The rest of the day was spent playing tourist and wandering from street to street, which is my usual way of discovering a new city. Since Venice uses canals instead of streets, this meant riding the water taxis that went all around the island and out to the surrounding islands as well..
