Venice, Part 3: Walking Around

The funny thing about Venice is that before you go there, everyone encourages you to just meander about and "get lost" in it. At first, I thought this had something to do with romantic Italian sensibilities or was inspired by the vagabonding flaneur of the early 20th century, aimlessly following his heart and sensing his way about town.

Those may very well be, but I realized that there was a far more practical reason for such a travel tip: One has no choice.

Trying to plot one's steps on a Venetian map is near-impossible, as many of the "streets" are as wide as alleyways and they twist and turn and run into eachother in a way that would make the finest navigator scratch his head in pure befuddlement. Getting lost in Venice, therefore, is not something one needs to set out to do, since it occurs organically and with subtlety. In fact, I would argue that the rate of one's loss is exactly proportional to the rate of one's love for the city; the more you lose yourself, the more it finds you.

Here are some images that document this fantastic process...