San Marco Boat Stop

This for me is the essence of Venice--not as illustrated in tourist guidebooks, but as experienced cruising around the city on the Vaporetti--the boats that serve as buses for the island city.

We're at the docks at San Marco (they're always in pairs, so Vaporetti heading opposite directions don't have to wait for each other). In the background is the highest structure in Venice (I think), the Campanile (bell tower) opposite St. Mark's Basilica. Reflected in the window on the left is the basilica of San Giorgio Maggiore with its tower, across the Venetian Lagoon from St. Marks.

The circular mirror helps the helmsmen and conductors of the boats see what's around them as they arrive and depart.

This was taken late this afternoon on our first full day in Venice--it was fabulous to experience the city again; we roade the # 1 boat line which goes from the train station at the west end of the city along the long S-curve of the Grand Canal and then out to the Lido in the east (a long island with hotels and beaches which was the main setting for Thomas Mann's Death in Venice--one of the great novellas of the 20th century). ( It struck me today that the coverage of the # 1 Vaporetto line is analogous to that of the #1 Metro line in Paris, which also goes from one end of the city to the other.)

Enough for today :-)