Flood In Venice

After sinking inch by inch into the Mediterranean for the last century (because it's built on sticks), Venice is now being flooded by the 4th highest tide ever recorded since 1872. It's a brutal 1, 2 punch that has everyone wading around the streets with tacky tourist trappings floating by. It's much easier to find sympathy with a place you've been, and for me that rings true with Venice. I spent a decidedly un-romantic but very, very interesting few days there with my Aussie friend heather in 2001. Until this story broke and I looked on the map, I had no idea where Venice was geographically. It's way up in the armpit of Italy, nuzzled near Croatia and Slovenia and all those other places that seem so mush further away than Italy.