This extremely unlikely city has been portrayed so often in photos, art, and film that it is impossible to hear the word “Venice” without conjuring a finely-honed image in your head. One might think that it is not even necessary to visit because it is already so familiar. But as our water-taxi made its way through the Grand Canal en route to the Rialto Bridge, passing palaces, gondola’s and the trademark candy striped boat moorings, that sense of familiarity was surprisingly coupled with exotic excitement.
For someone who lives in the lowest of the "Low Countries", a place that is constantly at odds with water, I could not suppress my amazement that Venice even exists at all. While Amsterdam is built around water, Venice is built IN water. This photo illustrates the battle that they are facing. See the bulkhead that they are building in front of this church? If any of the predictions of rising water levels are even 5% true, then this city is in serious trouble.
Preparing for winter's high-tide, these elevated walkways are strategically placed around the city for quick deployment in case of flooding.
Everything is done by boat, from deliveries to garbage removal to construction cranes.
Once the goods are in the city, they are off-loaded to these carts and hand wheeled to their final destination. Not a single car, golf cart or scooter! Fantastic!
...and one of the nicer final destinations for those goods was the Rialto Market.
Once you muscled your way through the crowds surrounding the tacky tourist booths, a classic European market could be found.
And being a city surrounded by water, fish was one of the main fares on offer. Once again the food in Northern Italy exceeded our expectations. It really doesn't get any better.
But if the big market is not your style, don't worry! We saw these smaller one-man markets throughout the islands of the lagoon.
No photo journal of Venice can be complete without the famous Rialto Bridge....
But sometimes it's the small details that make it special. This little fountain on a tucked away square...
or the different levels of history clearly visible on buildings at the foot of this bridge.
Peeling paint and crumbling brick...all part of the "off the beaten path" ambience.
Brightly colored boats. I didn't notice the dead phantom turtle when I took the picture...maybe it wasn't really there.
Anyone who has played one of those infamous first-person shooter computer games set in Venice or been to the Belaggio in Las Vegas will recognize this water color. Who'd of thunk that they would actually have gotten it right?
The obligatory sunny terrace with beer photo. Hmmmm....which beer is Beth's?
The obnoxious "pigeon man". He kept feeding the little buggers (which is why we had to have a cover on our peanut in the last photo). 
And for my Dutch friends....nuff said.
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