Venice

(January 13-23, 2004)

The Official Excuse ... er, Reason

I was presenting a paper at Principles of Programming Languages 2004, a programming language theory conference.

It's not too often that I get to go to a conference in such a place!
Here's the conference croud, geeking away under centuries-old Italian frescoes in the Auditorium Santa Margherita, Dorsoduro.

I stayed at Palazzo Zenobio, an old Armenian palace near the auditorium.
Conference meals were also held here.

Wandering the City

A canal near Palazzo Zenobio.

The Venetian flag.

Picking our way through the twisty streets on a rainy day.
Well actually, Anya's picking our way, and I'm following with the camera. :)

After my conference was over, Anya and I stayed at a small (5-room?) hotel near Ospedale Civile, on the northeast side of Venice,
from where you can see across the lagoon to Isola di San Michele.

Although the weather was usually quite calm and pleasant in the city,
one late night around high tide it got quite stormy around the edges and started flooding the north-shore walkway near our hotel.

At one of the many cute restaurants with amazing food.

Look ma, no handrails!

Venice has an amazing number of beautiful churches.
We saw so many, I've unfortunately lost track of exactly which was which.

Piazza San Marco

Basilica di San Macro, the main church.

Palazzo Ducale, the Doges' palace.

I met some ravenous and slightly peckish friends.

The famous Cafe Florian, over 270 years old.

A quiet, rainy night at the Piazza.

Castello

On Tuesday we explored Castello, the eastern end of the "big fish" of Venice, as well as Isola di San Pietro, where the original "main" church is located.