Venice: “La Dominante”, “Serenissima”, “Queen of the Adriatic”, “City of Bridges”, “The Floating City”. It certainly meets if not surpasses it's reputation. I don't feel the need to explain further; you can see it in the pictures below. So I will take this opportunity to make a public service announcement because Venice has mosquitoes.

DO NOT EVER INCESSANTLY SCRATCH YOUR MOSQUITO BITES!

Unfortunately, Auston had to learn this the hard way. We had a nice evening meal in Venice on the patio where he received two bites on his thighs. He didn't even realize that he had scratched them so intensely. Until… the infection. Which led to the abscess. Which led to medical intervention. And 5 followup visits to the doctor for cleaning.

We had never encountered this before and I'd say we get bitten fairly often. It put quite the damper on our time in Athens (where we were when it was the worst). Thankfully they've healed well and hinder him no longer. Now considering his luck with mosquitoes, I hope malaria isn't coming his way in Ghana.

Gross infection pictures here

Beautiful Venice pictures here: