Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Very Wet in Venice


If you've ever been to Venice you are familiar with St Marks square which is ussually filled with Japanese tourists entertaining themselves by feeding hundreds of pigeons. It's a marvelous place to sit and have a gellato at one of the sidewalk cafes where you can hear the battle of the bands just before they close for the night . Watching a two man skull paddle by is not something that you would expect to see.


Venice is experiencing unprecedented flooding this year with it's highest water levels in 22 years. Over five feet of water in some places is covering the winding streets and cobblestone pathways of this beautiful city.


It is heartbreaking to think of all of the damage that is being done to this historic marvel. Some say it is global warming - others just natures bad humor. Whatever the cause I hope there are no lasting effects.




Normally the banks of the canal at the Rialto bridge are home to large outdoor cafes at all four corners. In the picture above you can't even make out where the street ends and the canal begins.



On the outskirts of the lagoon you can really see the furry of the water.



I would love to be able to visit Venice again, I adore the city and it's architecture. I hope that this flooding is a once in a decade occurance and the city dries out without any damage. In the meantine I will have to settle for watching Casinova, the flick starring the late Heath Ledger. Believe it or not it has great views of the city and some marvelous interior sets and costumes.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow those pictures are incredible! I too hope that no major irrepairable damage is done by this..it must be pretty scary living there under all that water.

Velvet and Linen said...

We took a family trip to Venice last year.
These pictures make me want to cry. I hope that everything will dry up soon. A world without the beauty of Venice is not a world that I want to live in.

Renée Finberg said...

I know, I saw this on the news.

I absolutely love Venice, a
nd have a picture of myself in St Marks Square standing in flood water over 20 years ago.

Big hug xx

rochambeau said...

How heartbreaking! I had heard this would happen sometime, but didn't realize that Venice had indeed flooded now! Thank you for bringing it to our attention. I have not read or heard about it on the news.

Hope you are well Jackie Blue!
xox
Cosntance

Topsy Turvy said...

So sad! We have to hope for the best.

-Lana

bkhdesign said...

wow! that is amazing and the people still walk thru the flooded water. CRAZY!