Venice

Venice. City of Love? Well, I'd remember it more as the City-of-James-Bond-and-other-movie-boat-chases. But seriously, Venice is just an over hyped tourist trap. If you're going there, hold on to the ol' wallet firmly. Unless of course, you're the typical touristy-type. In which case, you should just splurge away. Eat fancy overpriced food, sail down tiny smelly canals in gondolas and do other touristy things. But if you want to do some fun stuff, grab a map of Venice at the railway station and do some navigation. Venice is one of those packed, narrow alleyed cites with old buildings and plenty of dead ends. A clasutophobe's nightmare. When we got off at the station we headed to San Marco's Piazza stopping only for gelato's. Apparently, the Piazza is one of the main hubs of the city and has some old, decrepit buildings of historic interest. As you have (accurately) noted, I'm not a fan of old buildings. But, I've got to say, the walk to the Piazza was neat. Plenty of opportunity to get lost and end up in an alley with no exit or better yet, an alley leading to one of the canals.

"Hey dude, I know where we have to go. Its over there, yonder"
"Reeeally?? I know that, you dolt. There's this smelly canal in the way"
Heh heh heh....But if you've got a map, there's really no way to get lost. Venice is a bunch of islands connected by a bunch of bridges. Plenty fun, if you have a day long treasure hunt planned.
At San Marco Piazza, we wandered around looking at this and that. Like I said, plenty of old architecture around. Also, at the waterfront, there are these carts and shops that sell touristy things- masks, souvenirs and things-but if you really want to buy stuff you should walk away from the Piazza. The further away you get from the Piazza, the cheaper stuff gets. (Don't forget your map). Well, nothing else to say, 'cause I didn't do any other touristy stuff. We lunched at a restaurant somewhere away from the Piazza (tourist trap alert: Food is overpriced and crappy). This was so different from Verona. Verona was quaint, pleasant and good food was the norm. Anyway, we did more wandering around after lunch.
An interesting and funny thing at the waterfront. These Indian looking folk (well, they were Indian for sure. Its just that they were speaking fluent Italian) were selling these trinkets and hand bags and other things on the sidewalks. Interesting, because they had their merchandise spread out on bedsheets, pretty much like what the chaps in Shivajinagar and Majestic do. This was one of those chin-scratching moments of deep reflection for me. Signs around the place prohibited people from buying "stolen/fake" stuff. But there were no signs prohibiting people from selling them. (Yeah, I know. Weird). I know what you're thinking because I thought the same thing back then "What if the cops came along.....just like in Shivajinagar and Majestic?". Five minutes later, I quit the chin scratching stuff.....because the cops did come along. My gosh! This took me right back to the good ol' days. These Indian looking folk wrapped up their bedsheets in an instant, a heartbeat, a flicker (ok, ok...you get it) and took off like bats out of hell. You should have seen them fly! Its been a while since I chuckled evilly, but chuckle evilly is precisely what I did at that moment. Unlike Indian cops though, Italian cops don't chase the guys. They just appear, give these guys a fairly decent scare and then disappear into the crowd....and then they repeat the process every half an hour or so. Well, they have to, 'cause these trinket seller chaps reappear and do their thing again. Fun to watch, but you get bored pretty soon.
Soon, it was time to head back to the station. And we had to make it back in good time because trains to Verona didn't run so often. The trail blazing from San Marco Piazza to the Station was more fun because we got lost quite a bit. Apparently my map reading skills are not so amazing.

"Hey dude, I know where we have to go. Its over there, yonder"
"Gaaaaahh. Will you cut that out. Why can't they build a bridge over this smelly canal?"
Curses rent the air that evening. But it is indeed frustrating when you're trying to make your way to the station which is on Island A and you find yourself on Island C, when all the while you thought you were on Island B which is close to Island A. Pretty annoying at the time, but when we made it back to the station, that smirk of accomplishment on my face was pretty obvious. If you go through that same experience then you should reward yourself with a gelato. Oh heck, you should have a gelato anyway. There's one right next to the station. Pretty good stuff. I give you my word.

P.S. Venice is sinking. If you're going, you should go now...before it becomes more expensive. Heh heh heh. What? You really think they'll let a cash cow like that sink?

Verona

A month since my first post. So, you think I'm lazy,eh? Well, you're right. But that wasn't the reason for my complete inactivity. The last month was packed, I tell ya, packed. We, SET students made a trip to Italy which was sheer brilliance. Add to that, a bunch of parties, a barbecue, Quakelive and lots of assignments. Now you get the picture. You'll notice that 'assignments' was keyed in last. That was intentional, because that's precisely what's been happening. I guess its time to pick up the slack and continue plowing forward. But, before I scoot, a brief word on the trip to Italy.

We drove down to Verona on 13th of May, via Germany and Austria (now that's a story for later). We spent 2 days in Verona and 1 in Venice. Lads, the place is amazing. Put it on your to-do-before-I-die list. Verona is a quaint charming little city. Its got old cathedrals, an arena and other touristy things. But since I'm not a fan of the touristy things, I'm gonna take you straight to the traveller stuff. The city was pretty safe (We were wandering around at eleven in the night without being hassled). But still leave your valuables and passport and things at home base. The Piazza Bra in the city centre serves thick, hot chocolate. Pretty neat stuff (read: you need to try it). Beer is expensive, but who needs beer when you're in wine country, heh heh. Apparently Verona is known for its horsemeat. Cavallo is a local speciality. Well, I hunted around for the stuff, but didn't find any, so I settled for the standard issue pasta and pizza. There's something about eating Italian food in Italy. Its..its.. authentic. (Heh heh heh...precisely the word I was looking for). So when you get there, make sure you stock up on the food and wine.
Now, like I said before plenty of tourist traps in this place. Romeo and Juliet lived here (the original pre-Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet), so their houses and tombs and what not are scattered about in various locations in the city. But, if you want my opinion, you should skip all this, pick up a map and go to the main Piazza's, where the good Italian folk congregate. The scenes that greet your eyes are more or less like that you saw in Hannibal. Remember? The scenes in Florence? Ha ha..of course you do. But Florence (I'm told) has got more of the fancy medieval stuff. Italian folk are also interesting. Everyone dresses up to impress. Some dress to kill. I felt pretty inadequate there, with my jeans and T-shirt (but, only for a little while). So just walk down marble lined streets, take in the sights, enjoy a refereshing Gelato....... What’s that? You don't know what a Gelato is? Its ice-cream laddie, Italian ice-cream. I was hooked on the stuff. There are Gelateria's at every street corner, by the way. Italians are hooked on the stuff as well.
Want a panoramic view of the city? Walk up to San Pietro's Castel. It’s located on a hill. The views from the top are mind boggling. Watch out for couples who make out, though. They're all over the place, exchanging deep kisses, only disengaging momentarily to come up for fresh air. Italians are passionate, all right; you don't need to tell me twice.
Also, plenty of students in Verona. No idea why. I didn't see a University, but there they were anyway. On our second night in Verona, we went to a student pub. The place was chock full. Even the stairwell was crowded. The air conditioning had kicked the bucket before we walked in. So picture the scene: Musty, dim lit, hot with sweaty students dancing to some cheesy Italian rock band. We stayed there until closing time. Well, nothing fancy about this place, just a typical student rat-hole....something like Pecos, back home. But, of course, Pecos is no rat-hole. Heh heh heh....
Before I end, a couple of memorable quotes from some memorable (unnamed) folk:
“What do you think I am, a junkie?????” and
“Hey, are you a smart-ass or are you just trying to be a smart-ass?”
Hahahahahahaha……
Ok, enough for now.
Next time: Venice.