Venice

Life sometimes feels like a compression chamber. Every once and a while it's great to escape into a fantasy world and forget all about life's troubles. So when the unbelievable opportunity to sneak away sans enfants presented itself to us, we snatched it up. Planning a trip less than two weeks in advance left us thumbing through any last-minute airfare deals. Malta, Mallorca, Malaga . . . those were some that made the bargains short list. Then there was Venice.



It's a city I've visited twice before, but I don't think you have ever really been to Venice until you've been there with the one you love.



It was absolutely the most perfect getaway, perhaps the best weekend of my life. We ate, we walked, we talked, we laughed, we shared, all things our hectic lives don't always allow enough room for. If you get away from the golden tourist trail, Venice is magic. We spent most of our time getting lost among Venice's many quiet canals and bridges away from the tourist swarms. Of course I also enjoyed taking photographs unencumbered by the little people, however, this trip was mostly about doing nothing. And even photography is something, so in my relaxed state (AKA gelato coma) I didn't take nearly as many photos as I would have otherwise.



Venice is crumbling, sinking at a rate that will put some 20-50cm more of this car-free paradise under water by the year 2050. But have you ever seen such beautiful decay?





























On our last day in Venice we took a boat out to the colorful island of Burano. I had the mid-day sun to contend with, but it was still a thrill to photograph.