The bridge of sighs. Did they have to replicate that?

“There is a replica of Venice here in Hangzhou” was really all they had to say. I was kinda sold. Granted, I had no conception that the place would be nice. What I was hoping was that it would be fascinating. It kinda was.
Located on the extreme south side of the city, the complex that houses fake Venice has a bit of an interesting design. The residential area has proper roads which run east to west. Beneath that, there is a commercial area that you can walk around. The commercial area is open to the public, but the residential area is not. Me and my friend  walked right by the guard and got into the residential area. It seemed lived in, and I was very curious about what the houses looked like inside. The commercial area was a complete bust. There was not one open store, and the posters around talked about events from years ago.
Which is kind of a shame, because as far as neighborhoods go this was kinda nice.

 

The bridge of sighs next to… nothing in particular

 

St. Mark’s…. wait what?

 

This would be piazzale Roma I guess.

Even the lion looks a  little off

The bride to be is tired from a day of picture taking

Fake Venice is a romantic place to get photos taken, if you can’t afford a trip to real Venice.

 

I have no idea what they were looking at. There was nothing interesting to the left

 

Someone’s house

The staircase going from the residential part of fake Venice to the commercial part

 

St Mark’s parking lot.

I’m not sold on this Venice.

If you forget your glasses at home you could be forgiven for thinking this was Venice.

 

Nowhere in real Venice would one find so much space

 

Bridges and buildings

Residential buildings reflected in the canal

 

 

Abandoned shops by the canal, and their reflection

A better shot

Some Chinese-Venetian lay-abouts

A canal, and what appears to be a meta-bridge

A strange looking complex

The tunnel under a road demarcating the end of fake Venice.

 

Gondola parking