I think I knew the Piazza San Marco was my favorite place in the entire world before I ever visited it in person.

It was 1974, when I saw the wonderful Paul Mazursky movie, "Blume in Love," and first saw the beauty of Venice's iconic piazza, and it was three years later when I actually visited it for the first time myself. It was one of those rare places that totally lived up to all the hype, all the anticipation I had for it.

[caption id="attachment_882" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Piazza San Marco, Venice"]<a href="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/piazza_san_marco.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-882" title="piazza_san_marco" src="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/piazza_san_marco-300x195.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="195" /></a>[/caption]

The piazza is massive, which plays perfectly in the wonderful reunion scene at the end of the movie where George Segal sees his once and future wife, Susan Anspach, walking toward him from the other end of the square. The scene seems to take forever, but somehow it works.

I have been there twice. It's one of the few places -- all in Europe -- that I visited with both of my wives at two very different times in my life. I spent two days there in July 1977 with Leslie, and 10 wonderful days in May 2003 with Nicole.

I don't really remember a whole lot about the first visit, other than the beauty of the city. It was the first stop for us in a 21-day mad dash around Europe with Eurail passes. We spent most of our time in Venice, Rome, Paris and Frankfurt, and except for a week in Paris, I'm not sure we had the time to do any of the places we visited justice.

When I made it back in 2003 with Nicole, it was actually the third time we had been to Europe together. She had a scientific conference in Venice, so we had plenty of time for sightseeing. I think we saw most of the sights, and we ate at a number of wonderful restaurants. Thanks to a gift from my mother, we even spent an hour in a gondola.

I was 27 the first time I visited Italy, 53 when I returned.

With all the places remaining to see in the world, I honestly don't know if I will ever make it back to Venice. We're hoping to get to the Netherlands and Greece this summer, and if all goes well, we will visit Pauline and her family in Indonesia later in the year.

If I ever get back there, it will probably be as an old man watching young people experiencing Venice for the first time. I'll sit in a sidewalk cafe and sip a glass of wine, and I will remember with joy the wonderful times I had there when I was younger.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py6pKxXV9Sw&amp;feature=related