Venice

We spent two days in Venice after the cruise; finally have the photos up. The visit was marred somewhat when someone getting off the cruise ship picked up the suitcase containing almost all of my clothes and left it in the piazza when he discovered it wasn't his; we filed a missing bag report, and they called shortly after we arrived at our hotel to tell us it had been found and would I please pick it up? Since we had been told it would be delivered if found, we asked for that, they said they would, but by noon the next day nothing had happened. I went to get it (a two-hour excursion with much walking) and the guy at the lost bag room wanted 3 euros for holding it. Royal Caribbean apologized but could not explain the delay....

Venice was quite lovely; I wasn't expecting much, but since it was cool and did not smell like Galveston in summer, the crowds of tourists didn't get to me. The city is down to a full-time population of only 70,000 and shrinking fast, as it is uneconomic and inconvenient to live there. It is destined to be a Disney-like preserve, and one wonders if there is enough money in tourism to do the restoration necessary to save the less popular parts of the island from obvious decay. The Italian government is about to spend a fortune on a barrier scheme to prevent flooding, when perhaps pumping water into the aquifer underlying the island and issuing more boots would be enough...

And we didn't spot any little girls in red raincoats.

Gallery!