Venice. City of Love? Well, I'd remember it more as the City-of-James-Bond-and-other-movie-boat-chases. But seriously, Veni
ce 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.
ce 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 bun
ch 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.
"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 bun
ch 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?
"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?
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