We headed away from Cinque Terre by mid afternoon to arrive in Venice at nightfall.  We had a plan to meet a lab mate in Munich during a certain time, and had our schedule to this point planned for a Munich arrival the following day.  So this gave us a little less than 24 hours in Venice, which was one of my least favorite cities in Italy.  I do understand that usually, this is one of the most iconic places you could visit in Italy, but I warned Melody that it was really a dirty, smelly, and romanticized place. We arrived into Venice at night, and caught the water bus to check into our hotel, grab a dinner and do a quick stroll.  Melody was in love at first sight, it is definitely an interesting place to see, especially the views down the canals.

Melody and I ended up getting dinner at the most expensive and touristy place at Piazza San Marco, but there really wasn’t much open late at 10pm, unlike Spain where that was the first sitting.  Well we decided to get up early, and get a few photos to following morning and sunrise and make the most of our time there.  The sun’s position wasn’t right for photographs, blowing out most of the skies wherever I looked, and the buildings made it hard to shoot unless I had a tripod.  But we wandered around the streets in search for a view.

Melody up bright and early, scrambling the streets of Venice.

We headed to the Grand Canal to get a picture of Ponte di Rialto, but I don’t think this time of year was best for this.  But I got some photos nonetheless.

Up close and personal with the Rialto Bridge, usually during the day this place is crowded with tourists and shops.  I really wanted to get an intimate view of the place, so it’s always best to get up before sunrise and stroll the streets.

Melody atop the bridge.

Then I decided to go up, and get a photo of the Grand Canal, a majestic view.

The buildings were still colored with pastels and brick.

The bridge framing the town below, I kind of wish I could have gotten a higher perspective, but this was really good for being on the other side of the bridge.

Melody and I ended up wandering around, until we reach a random dead-end, full of pigeons.  Pigeons are Melody’s worst nightmare, and she felt too claustrophobic since there were probably 100-200 pigeons surrounding her.  She has an idea that Pigeons are like rats, and will peck at her toes and eventually eat her alive, but I was there to save the day.  I ended up giving her a piggy back ride through the pigeons and back to safety.  But, I was also able to get an interesting view of the buildings above, with the different colors.

Which seems to be some sort of facade for the brick underlaying.

The view going down the Rialto Bridge, where are are many designer stores and other such stores leading to Piazza San Marco.  Venice is weird in a sense that, it is built like a maze.  It really is hard to navigate, and you can easily get lost if you don’t have a map.  The streets tend to wind in different directions, not connecting with one another.

But there are wonderful views down the canals, with bridges that connect on side with the other.

We headed toward Piazza San Marco, to get a view of the place before all the people showed up.  A mural on Basilica di San Marco.

The sun’s rays hitting the side of a building in Piazza San Marco.

The light was interesting, hitting the lamp posts lining the streets creating a surreal glowing effect.  And more and more people were coming out on the street to get some interesting views.

And I got an interesting view to show the texture of the street, and where we ended up getting dinner the night before.

Saint Mark’s Campanile

And one last one, to show the beautiful architecture of Palazzo Ducale as we left the area for the morning.

The glowing lamp posts, and the intricate ironworks.

I ended up seeing this interesting building.

With an astrological clock.

And although we didn’t end up getting a Gondola ride, due to it’s exorbitant cost, we did get to see a lot of other people enjoy it.

Instead we opted to ride the water bus as a tour of Venice by sea, this is where we got to see the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute.

As well as a water ride down the Grand Canal, similar to the Gondola’s but way cheaper.

Some Gondola’s docked.

and more.

Now you can see all the people on the Rialto Bridge, a place I don’t really find myself enjoying my time.  But we did get to see the views from our boat!

And more buildings lining the Grand Canal.

We headed off the boats and made our way around some more by foot.

And we ended up seeing some interesting things, like this gondola operator waiting for some people to give a tour.

The tiny canals of Venice, one of the smaller ones of the area.

Melody, in front of bed sheets and behind a beautiful row of flowers.

And we then headed back to the train station to catch our train to Munich, it was suppose to be one train ride over and no headaches.

But we left behind some easy traveling for a little more trouble as we headed away from Italy and into Munich.  Here, I decided to get another view of the view above, but found a person to frame the location.