Venice, then and now.

Have you guys seen the crazy flooding that happened in Venice last week?  It's called the "acqua alta," which means "high water," and apparently happens every year around this time.  This year's flooding, however, is much worse than usual.  The pictures are just insane.  I think I find them so fascinating because we went there a little over a year ago.  Comparing what things looked like then, as opposed to now, is mind-boggling.    

Here's St. Mark's Square at night, when we went in September 2011 (pardon the blurry nighttime photo).  The ground was wet because it had just rained, but this past week, the flooding was so high that the cafe chairs are almost submerged.

On the last night of our trip, we went out walking late after dinner.  It poured, and somehow we ended up with St. Mark's Square totally to ourselves (and ScarJo up there, of course).  It was magical -- the kind of moment where you think to yourself, "this was worth 15 miserable hours of traveling to get here."  Now people are knee-deep in water!  (Looks like Ms. Johansson is still high and dry in her new ad, though.)

This was taken from out in the canal, on our water taxi, looking into St. Mark's Square.  You can see people on all the walkways behind the gondolas, but now they'd be wading in water up to their hips!  I can't get over it.

Random travel tip: we considered skipping Venice during our trip, but got some great advice: don't stay too long, but you just can't skip it.  We only spent two nights and one full day there, and it was the perfect amount.  Even though I knew that Venice was built on the canals, there is something absolutely incredible about seeing a city with no roads or cars, built entirely on water.  You have to see it to believe it!   

(Each of the top photos was taken by Tall and Salty; the three bottom image credits are: Reuters/Manuel Silvestri via The Atlantic; Olivier Morin/AFP/Getty Images via The Atlantic; AFP/Getty via The Telegraph.)