We visited Venice yesterday. It was packed. It's no wonder the population of Venice is dwindling, the "streets" were so clogged with tourists it was almost impossible for residents to go about their business. Is it inevitable that unique destinations like Venice become little "Disneylands"--nothing but facades that cater to the outsider's perceptions of what they should be?

To be fair, most of the tourism this weekend is due to the Italian May Day holiday, Italy's Labor Day. A majority of the tourists seemed to be Italian. There was a distinct lack of English heard in the narrow alleyways.

Whatever you do, don't be taken in by the idea of taking "the boat" from Chioggia to Venice as we did, unless it goes directly into Venice. Our trip did indeed start and end on a boat. But in between there was a bus, a ferry, and another bus. The chances you'll have to stand on the buses is 5 to 1. On the pleasure/pain scale this 2 hour trip falls between getting poked in the eye with a sharp stick and getting your arm ripped off by the rusty gears of large industrial machinery. Avoid like the plague.