So we got married in Venice in June, so what?
I still feel a bit "so what?" about Venice, but after last night I realized that travelling with pleasant other people makes the Venetian experience much better.
I'll get to that later.
And one other important fact I forgot to mention about the night before: I ran into someone else from law school! That makes 4 people in under 36 hours in Italy. The fourth was Roland, from my section. He was with 2 Australian girls with whom he shared a tour. They had to go catch a boat, so our conversation was short, but hooray! Good to run into you Roland!
My second day in Venice began much like the first except that I woke up early (8:00) and did some laundry, for the first time in a long time. It was very expensive (8 euro, maybe?), and the clothes ended up not quite dry, I am very happy to not be washing my clothes in the shower immediately before wearing them.
My plan was to see "all the sights" in Venice, but I only ended up entering San Marco: The biggest tourist attraction in the world! It's a church, guys! A big church, with lots of decorations! Why are you all waiting in line outside? Why is the entire square (the only not claustrophobic spot in Venice) full of people (and pigeons)? San Marco was fine, but I was surprised to see lines almost as long as the ones I saw for Star Tours in Disneyland soon after it came out! (okay, not quite as long as those...)
San Marco was grand, as expected. Mosaic ceilings. Depictions of the story of Joseph (I know this because I joined a French tour group and picked out a few words from the explanation). All the "really good stuff" in San Marco (the "Treasure") was not free and I was not going to waste my precious Euros on that! I did waste my precious Euros on some stamps at the nearby post office and on some delicious gelato in the square.
Much of my time in Venice is spenting looking for a place to sit down and relax. I spent the next hour or two engaged in this very exciting activity. What am I looking for? A place not so expensive. Or at least that takes credit cards (remember, my wallet was stolen and thus i have no bank card for cash). Where the food looks reasonably good. That is crowded, but not too crowded. Where at least a few of the people sitting are under the age of 60 (hard to find in Venice). And in a public enough spot that I can people watch where I sit (those romantic corners with no foot traffic do me no good when by myself.)
I finally decided on a semi-expensive but not so great restaurant on the Grand Canal, mostly because they accepted credit cards without a minimum (the place next door had a 50 Euro Minimum!) I ate some pretty good monk fish and a beer and some stale bread, all of which made me tired.
I made it to Santa Margarita square, where all the students live. Here, I discovered that Venice is NOT only about tourists and there actually are crowds of Italian speakers, all in one place! And there are spots where the average age is below 60! Hooray! Unfortunately, my lunch had made me tired, and after reading a bit of Northanger Abbey I started falling asleep at the cafe.
...a bookstore...checking internet...a mushroom pizza...a long walk around the city and down to the harbor...finding actual streets in Venice for the first time...getting very lost....crossing and recrossing bridges...and back to the hotel to collapse...a bit more of Northanger Abbey (I am loving this book by the way) and then back out again for what I thought would be a doner kebab by myself.
Rather, I ran into those British girls from Cinqueterre coming down the stairs (on the train to Monterrosa they had borrowed my Let's Go Guide to find a place to stay in Venice -- ended up at the same one i was at) and they invited me to join them for dinner.
And what a nice time it was! Suddenly with two companions I was not so annoyed with the sea of couples. I had someone to talk to! I had someone with whom to discuss the previous day! Pizza and wine for dinner. This guy came over trying to get me to buy roses for the girls, which I refused, mostly out of principal. But after pressing me for a few minutes he gave the roses to us. Huh? That's not how the "Rosas" lady in West Hollywood runs her business! We walked around the canals, stopped at a bar for a cocktail (and the Phil Collins concert DVD that was playing on the TV -- excellent!) and said goodbye.
So yes, I guess the bad parts of Venice are only so visible when by oneself. I still have no plans of returning. Despite what everybody says, I don't think it is such a romantic place, but rather more of an amusement park built upon some ancient and authentically picturesque buildings.
Every place I go, I compare to Iceland. Iceland was a difficult place to manage by oneself, but not difficult to enjoy. My time there was more enjoyable when I had companions, partially because it allowed the opportunity to exclaim "my how beautiful that is!" But in Iceland, as in everywhere else I have been, it was not so difficult to meet other people. In Venice, it was near impossible. The only reason I had anyone to hang out with was because I had met them in a previous city.
I'm in Rome now.
The trouble with this blog is that by the time I got to updating about "yesterday", so much has already happened "today" that I don't have time to talk about.
I'll get to that later.
And one other important fact I forgot to mention about the night before: I ran into someone else from law school! That makes 4 people in under 36 hours in Italy. The fourth was Roland, from my section. He was with 2 Australian girls with whom he shared a tour. They had to go catch a boat, so our conversation was short, but hooray! Good to run into you Roland!
My second day in Venice began much like the first except that I woke up early (8:00) and did some laundry, for the first time in a long time. It was very expensive (8 euro, maybe?), and the clothes ended up not quite dry, I am very happy to not be washing my clothes in the shower immediately before wearing them.
My plan was to see "all the sights" in Venice, but I only ended up entering San Marco: The biggest tourist attraction in the world! It's a church, guys! A big church, with lots of decorations! Why are you all waiting in line outside? Why is the entire square (the only not claustrophobic spot in Venice) full of people (and pigeons)? San Marco was fine, but I was surprised to see lines almost as long as the ones I saw for Star Tours in Disneyland soon after it came out! (okay, not quite as long as those...)
San Marco was grand, as expected. Mosaic ceilings. Depictions of the story of Joseph (I know this because I joined a French tour group and picked out a few words from the explanation). All the "really good stuff" in San Marco (the "Treasure") was not free and I was not going to waste my precious Euros on that! I did waste my precious Euros on some stamps at the nearby post office and on some delicious gelato in the square.
Much of my time in Venice is spenting looking for a place to sit down and relax. I spent the next hour or two engaged in this very exciting activity. What am I looking for? A place not so expensive. Or at least that takes credit cards (remember, my wallet was stolen and thus i have no bank card for cash). Where the food looks reasonably good. That is crowded, but not too crowded. Where at least a few of the people sitting are under the age of 60 (hard to find in Venice). And in a public enough spot that I can people watch where I sit (those romantic corners with no foot traffic do me no good when by myself.)
I finally decided on a semi-expensive but not so great restaurant on the Grand Canal, mostly because they accepted credit cards without a minimum (the place next door had a 50 Euro Minimum!) I ate some pretty good monk fish and a beer and some stale bread, all of which made me tired.
I made it to Santa Margarita square, where all the students live. Here, I discovered that Venice is NOT only about tourists and there actually are crowds of Italian speakers, all in one place! And there are spots where the average age is below 60! Hooray! Unfortunately, my lunch had made me tired, and after reading a bit of Northanger Abbey I started falling asleep at the cafe.
...a bookstore...checking internet...a mushroom pizza...a long walk around the city and down to the harbor...finding actual streets in Venice for the first time...getting very lost....crossing and recrossing bridges...and back to the hotel to collapse...a bit more of Northanger Abbey (I am loving this book by the way) and then back out again for what I thought would be a doner kebab by myself.
Rather, I ran into those British girls from Cinqueterre coming down the stairs (on the train to Monterrosa they had borrowed my Let's Go Guide to find a place to stay in Venice -- ended up at the same one i was at) and they invited me to join them for dinner.
And what a nice time it was! Suddenly with two companions I was not so annoyed with the sea of couples. I had someone to talk to! I had someone with whom to discuss the previous day! Pizza and wine for dinner. This guy came over trying to get me to buy roses for the girls, which I refused, mostly out of principal. But after pressing me for a few minutes he gave the roses to us. Huh? That's not how the "Rosas" lady in West Hollywood runs her business! We walked around the canals, stopped at a bar for a cocktail (and the Phil Collins concert DVD that was playing on the TV -- excellent!) and said goodbye.
So yes, I guess the bad parts of Venice are only so visible when by oneself. I still have no plans of returning. Despite what everybody says, I don't think it is such a romantic place, but rather more of an amusement park built upon some ancient and authentically picturesque buildings.
Every place I go, I compare to Iceland. Iceland was a difficult place to manage by oneself, but not difficult to enjoy. My time there was more enjoyable when I had companions, partially because it allowed the opportunity to exclaim "my how beautiful that is!" But in Iceland, as in everywhere else I have been, it was not so difficult to meet other people. In Venice, it was near impossible. The only reason I had anyone to hang out with was because I had met them in a previous city.
I'm in Rome now.
The trouble with this blog is that by the time I got to updating about "yesterday", so much has already happened "today" that I don't have time to talk about.
posted by Jed at 5:31 AM
4 Comments:
i am so bummed i did not get to recoomend that you visit 'the fiddler's elbow'--one of the only bars open late in venice, also irish, also full of travellers. i watched one of the world cups there. when i lived in venice i went there almost every night.
FORTUNATELY FOR YOU! there is one in rome. i cannot vouch so much for it. i met a yale student there who i kept running into OVER AND OVER AGAIN at the hill thingie next to the colliseum. i want to call it the parthenon? the acropolis? god, i can't remember any names for the life of me. MY one regret about rome--i did not see the "bone chapel" which is purportedly awesome. also i missed some famous gardens or other which were supposed to be good. rome is (apart from venice) definitely my favorite city in italy. enjoy!
Well that is a shame. I would have liked to meet more travellers. At the same time, my hostel/hotel hat a 12:30 curfew so there was no poing in finding a bar that was too fantastically great.
I thought about going out last night in Rome but I was too tired from walking all day. And given that I have no cash it is tough to buy drinks. Maybe if my cashcard arrives, I'll check this place out.
I think the thing you are thinking of is the Pantheon. I may go to see it today if I can get my act together.
nah. it was the forum. how lame am i? the forum. if you do see the pantheon, i want a full report, because it was closed for cleaning when i was there.
don't forget the mouth of truth which is way in the middle of nowhere. on second thought, forget it.
i am glad you are having a good time. i knew you would be fine, even though "NO ONE likes you." ;-)
"Full" report on the Pantheon coming...
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