In February 2020 I visited the floating city of Venice for the first time. As I looked down the canal from the Bridge of Sighs it struck me that I was standing in a real life Atlantis. Just two months previously the city had been subject to its second-worst flooding since records began, and there were visible signs of this all around. Perhaps one day people would have to go diving to visit this ancient city… but how glorious it would still look under water. I was taken by how beautiful and foreboding the water-damaged walls were. Decay can be beautiful.
The day I left the carnival had been cancelled due to covid-19.