Venice is a place where you spend way too much money and have fun doing it. To give you a sense of what we're talking about, we ordered $14 dollar coffees at Cafe Florian along Saint Mark's Square. Cafe Florian was probably the first place in Europe to serve coffee, and the rooms are very fancy, decorated in mirrors and gold leaf. Then we moved along to Harry's Bar where the Bellini was invented and paid $25 each for its signature cocktail. There, we struck up a conversation with some fellow Americans with two kids who invited us to come stay at their place in California next time we pass through the Bay Area in our travels. Finally, after doing a pub crawl where we ate anchovies, eggs, calamari, and other seafood without asking questions, we paid $100 for an evening gondola ride. As crazy and extravagant as all that sounds, we'll both never forget those experiences. 

Getting to Venice proved quite difficult. Our flight from Nice was delayed three separate times, so we didn't get into Venice until about 1 am. The only good thing about the three delays were the three small bottles of wine that we received as compensation for the inconvenience. We stayed in two former palaces, one near Rialto Market and one near the former Jewish ghetto. The market accommodations were nicer than the ghetto accommodations, but you could have probably guessed that.

We enjoyed our behind the scenes tour of the Doge's Palace, where we visited jail cells, torture chambers, and court rooms where the citizens of Venice were tried. The Bridge of Sighs connects the court rooms to the jail rooms, where prisoners could view the outside world for one last time before descending into their dark cell sometimes for the remainder of their lives.

We found the concept of the Doge to be quite unique and interesting. Our tour guide described him as being a sort of powerless figurehead and captive of the Doge's Palace. The real power lay with the handful of noble families who together made up a sort of aristocracy. They would elect Doges to lifelong appointments, but they would be sure to choose older people in order that the Doge would die before he became too powerful. This type of divided government, where no one person possessed all of the power allowed Venice to grow and thrive. For centuries, tiny Venice was Europe's only superpower. Then in 1797, Napoleon conquered the independent city state. 

We also visited Saint Mark's Basilica, were Eastern, Muslim architectural influences are incorporated into more conventional European church designs. Finally, on our last day, we took a boat out to Murano and Burano known for glass and lace-making respectively. We most enjoyed Burano, where bunches of tiny, bright-colored structures line narrow canals, and one can make their way around the island in a short afternoon.