My first impressions of Venice, with a little Martini

I am not sure what I was expecting from Venice, but whatever it was it has surpassed all my expectations.

The city mixes grandeur with decadence in a way that no other place I have visited before seems to achieve, and if you then throw in the Carnival the mixture is intoxicating.

The water taxi takes you from the airport to the town across a labyrinth of small canals on a sunny but bitterly cold day with the wind cutting our faces.

Venice makes you think of times long gone by, of the Dangerous Liaisons,  of the Death Plague, of Cardinal Richeliau, and every other historic novel you have ever read. You can fancy yourself on a duel over one of the small bridges, being the intrepid musketeer, or you could be in the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen…I better not have any more Martini Rosso