So. Where to begin?

First of all, I'm in Venice now, and it's a really beautiful city, although internet cafes are pretty hard to find (hence the lack of postage yesterday). Not much to report on Venice yet, since I basically got here yesterday, checked into the hotel, and went to bed, and today's been spent just wandering. I was looking for Santa Maria dei Miracoli, a little church that's supposed to be quite nice, but I got lost on the way there several times, and I never actually found it. (I'm taking that as divine guidance that I'm not meant to find it.) I do plan to go to the Basilica San Marco as soon as I'm done here, though, so there will be stuff to report once I've been there.

Basic impressions so far are that Venice is a testament to human ingenuity. How the hell has this city managed to survive in the middle of the sea for 700 years? When I woke up this morning, the canals were high (reminding me that this is, above all, a tidal city), and the sidewalks were inundated in several places, but the city had erected little boardwalks above the water and everybody was just carrying on as normal. I admire the Venetians' nonchalance, but it's really not hard to see why the city's historic buildings are decaying. Salt water is incredibly corrosive, and the foundations of most of the buildings are wooden.

Still, the city is beautiful. I regretfully admit that the rumour is true, and Venice doesn't smell very good sometimes, but then again, neither does Guelph. I'm already a fan of cities where boats are the main form of transportation, and this is the original... most of my morning was spent just riding back and forth on the Grand Canal. One interesting thing I've noticed is that, unlike Amsterdam, there are no houseboats here. I think this is probably due to the ever-changing levels of the canals (making mooring difficult), as well as the comparative narrowness of most of them. Houseboats would severely restrict the traffic.

I should update briefly on my last day in Paris, too. I did visit the Eiffel Tower, but it was expensive and a long wait to go up, so I stayed on terra firma. Other than that, I basically wandered, took in a couple more museums (the Musee d'Orsay, which was much more rewarding than the Louvre, and the Musee des Arts Decoratifs), and waited for my train. I'll write more about the Orsay when I have more time, and when I've had a chance to post some of the pictures from there.

Milan, yesterday, was a bit of a bust. Both the Duomo and La Scala, the two buildings I wanted to see, are undergoing renovation and have their facades completely covered up. As it turned out, though, this was a good thing, because when I left my backpack at the train station for safekeeping during my city visit, I left my camera in my backpack, so there wouldn't have been any photos from either place anyway. I also wasn't able to get into Santa Maria delle Grazie, the home of Da Vinci's Last Supper, because apparently you have to book really far in advance (which I actually knew, but I was gambling on it not being peak tourist season). Still, the interior of the Duomo was nice, and I can now say that I bought something at the flagship Armani store in Milan (perfume, but still. 30 euros for perfume is not half bad, especially in Milan).

Before I end the entry, I want to note one thing. It may seem to some of you like I'm visiting an awful lot of churches for someone who isn't religious. I am visiting a lot of churches, but first of all, the only architecture I know anything about is church architecture, so old churches are really interesting to me from a non-religious standpoint. Also, you have to remember that for hundreds of years, in addition to being the centre of religion, the Church was the centre of art, education, society, and pretty much everything except food. The history of Europe is, essentially, the history of the church. So, when in Europe, it doesn't matter if you're religious or not. Go to church.

(Oh. One more thing. I was surprised to find out on Wednesday that my bank card really doesn't work in the Metro ticket machines in Paris. Maybe my ripoff on Saturday was a genuine mistake?)