Oww.The moon just hit my eye like a big pizza pie.

Trip Start Apr 16, 2006
1
34
39
Trip End Jun 07, 2006


Loading Map
Map your own trip!
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
shadow

Flag of Italy  ,
Tuesday, May 23, 2006

For those of you who have never been to Venice, I'll try to give you an idea of what it's like. First off, it's an island. There are no cars anywhere on the main island, so instead all transit is done by boats on the canals that weave throughout. Besides the gondolas carrying tourists along the canals, it is a working city where people live, so boats are also how the restaurants get their supplies delivered, how the construction companies transport their building materials, etc. So the canals are in essence a set of freeways and side streets.

I am happy to say that this is the first time I've been to Venice where I didn't get lost. I learned my lesson though... I know I can always find Piazza San Marco so I booked a hotel semi-near it, and then memorized the path from the Piazza to the hotel.

My new travel buddy Lisa had never been to Venice and I hadn't been in about 10 years so we explored a lot of it. We walked all over, and I finally mastered the Vaporetto (the public transit boats) so we tried to get our money's worth on the 3 Day transit passes we bought. We ate a LOT of gelato along the way. Two scoops on a cone, a minimum of 2x a day. Why? Because even though I'm usually not an ice cream person... gelato is so freaking good that passing it by becomes impossible at times. Unfortunately, I think some of that weight I lost in Turkey and Egypt has started sneaking it's way back after the carbs, wine, and gelato of Italy. Oh well. At least I've earned every pound.

Our hotel was not on a canal and I was happy about that since sometimes the canals get a little... 00 Happy Italians
00 Happy Italians
 ummm... smelly. Fact is, the canal water is green and pretty disgusting. It's kind of a sewer system, and hundreds of years ago it carried the plague. (Anybody ever read Thomas Mann's Death in Venice? It's features a cholera outbreak. Not really a feel-good book.) Anyhow, the city floods about 100 times a year, and the Piazza San Marco is the low point of the island so that's usually the first to go. On our first night there, the water was coming up from the grates and flooded out the entire front of the Basilica and parts of the Piazza. This is very common.

Even though our hotel was not on a canal, it was very close to one of the canals that the gondolas frequent. So from the room you could hear the accordionists and opera singers seranading their passengers. We decided not to get a gondola ride because they cost around $200 nowadays. And plus, it started to sprinkle a bit on our last night, which kinda makes a boat ride a little less appealing.

I'll be uploading my photos from Austria, but I took quite a few. I know that for some of you, Venice is a dream that you may never see so I tried to capture the feel of it. Sooooo, there are a lot of photos of gondoliers and people being covered in pigeons in the Piazza San Marco. I also used my video to capture a few things that you will really like... the gondolier musicians, a group of italians breaking into an impromptu song, and a street musician playing Swan Lake on water glasses. I'll try to get those up soon.
Slideshow Print this entry Venice hotels

Comments

janeallen
janeallen on May 26, 2006 at 01:25PM

Ah, Italia
Buon Giorno......I've not been to Venice yet but love your narrative and look forward to seeing your pics. Re: your comments about Finland, I have been to Finland and loved it. I guess you'll need to add Suomi-land to your travel list.

Arrividerci Lynn,
Jane

Add Comment