A City of Water in Ice...

The first thing about Venice you notice besides the canals and ornate boats tied to colorful poles is the complete lack of cars, buses and even bikes.

My guide book says not only has Venice been a tourist trap for over four centuries but it remains Europe's most historically preserved city.

Looking around, if you ignore small things like cell phones, digital cameras and the thin white cords of iPods hanging from everyone's ears, it's easy to imagine Venice much the same, even centuries ago.

People would have flood to it's narrow streets and tall drooping buildings of fading bricks and green shutters from all over the known world to pay too much for cruises around the canals or to sample the local gelato.

It's an interesting place for the mere fact that it exists now only as a spectacle. There is no real industry here save tourism. There are few locals except the employees of Venice's countless hotels, shops, restaurants and pubs. Everywhere mobs of tourists filter through it's maze of streets.

All the cities I've visited this far have been living, breathing, growing cities. Venice is like the past frozen in time, preserved artificially by tourism dollars.

I'm glad I came to see and experience it but I can't imagining spending any length of time here. We leave tomorrow for a seven hour train ride through the Alps back to Switzerland.

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