orvieto a tutti: venice

when arriving in venice, since no cars are allowed in the city, our bus had to drop us off and we had to walk from there. venice is located in the middle of a lagoon and a single bridge takes all trains and vehicle traffic to the city. next to the train station is drop off point for buses and cars. when we got there it was raining and we all walked to our hotel. it was already late and we had been out in the rain all day so we put on some fresh clothes and went to take a vaporetto ( venice's public transit boats ) down the grand canal. during dinner the rain really started to pick up and when we left the restaurant the city was beginning to flood. apparently venice floods about 50 days a year, the ground floor of most building ( in the lowest part of the city ) are empty of any nice furniture or have an elevated floor. parts of piazza san marco were under over a foot of water. this happens so often the put elevated platforms through the city to walk on. we found ourselves stranded in the center of the piazza and had to wade through water to get back. the forecast was supposed to be rain all week but we ended up getting extremely lucky because the next day we woke up the sun was shining and the water had ( for the most part ) receded. we met marco and spent our morning exploring the doge's palace. afterwards a few of us took a 30 min vaporetto ride to the island or murano. later that night nick, craig, and i went to one of the two casinos in venice. it is located on the grand canal and you are required to wear a jacket to play, we were able to rent one at the front desk. i just wanted to go see the casino but nick and craig both gambled. later that night we met up with the rest of the group celebrating st. pattys day at an irish pub. the next morning we did a walking tour of venice and continued to explore for the rest of the day. we found beer and pizza for dinner and got to bed early to catch an early flight to prague saturday morning.