grandeur in venezia

So, venice is great. Neptune, or whomever the venetians and their grandiosity deems responsible for rain, cannot stop the helpless beauty and destruction that is venice. They may create frescoes and personify every city and steal the bones of important saints (st mark as the lion with wings?), but building a city on water takes gumption, and these venetians, they have it. Really, they were just forced by atilla and turks onto this lagoon as these conquerors kept trying to invade, but it turned out to be a pretty sweet place to live. I mean, if you would rather use a boat than a car to get around (who wouldnt?), then this is your place.

Prego, on top of all of this... today alex and i found a store that will fill up your water bottle with wine for 2 euro per liter. Thats one euro for filling up my water bottle with the sweet sweet fruits of the grape. Oh, italy. How I adore you.

Nevertheless, we did take an hours worth of ferrys to get to an island that we deemed too rainy to walk around on and turned back around. However, after that water-into-wine experience, a too large pizza for a not so large price, and then watching the lights of the night dance on the black liquid, i am converted into a true worshiper - like tintoretto - of the venetians. Its not rome. Oh, no. It will never be rome. And, as the band the mountain goats put it:

I'm going to get myself in fighting trim,
scope out every angle of unfair advantage.
I'm going to bribe the officials.
I'm going to kill all the judges.
it's going to take you people years to recover from all of the damage.

our mother has been absent ever since we founded rome.
but there's going to be a party when the wolf comes home.