Venezia, Roma and Firenze

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Veni, Vidi, Venezia, Roma and Firenze
(I came, I saw Venice, Rome and Florence)

Hi Everyone,

How's things? Hope you're fine and/or dandy.

Another entry ensues as I am motivated once more to sit in front of the pc after some much needed rest after Italy. I've just spend around ten days in Italy and it's an amazing place.

It really has 2 great things that you hope all destinations will provide:
- things to see and do, and
- great things to eat

I took the overnight train from Austria into Venice, which was ridiculously cheap (a mere 5 euros), but also ridiculously uncomfortable (a night spent 'sleeping' in one of those 6 person compartments when it was full). The bad night's sleep meant that my initial impression of Venice was a little unfair. It went along the lines of 'I'm tired, and it's raining, and there are tourists everywhere....' etc. I don't want to bore you too much with my moping 😊 But the following day, my mood changed completely after a solid night's sleep: 'Wow it's so pretty, and the sun's out, the canals are so quaint, there are actually venetians in the street today' etc.

Venice is a really pretty city, with its canals and I love the colour of the buildings on a bright sunny day, but you get the feeling it's a town that's steadily losing its identity as it tries to put up this facade for snap-happy tourists. But you can hardly be surprised given the huge amount of tourists that come through though. Without wanting to be too cynical, you can see economic theory at work as the 'agile' city switches industries (from sea port to tourism) to exploit its 'competitive advantage' (pretty canals), responding to customer demand and selling as many cliched goods and services as it can.

I know, I'm a tourist too, but my greatest joys in Venice wasn't picking out my favourite knock-off louis vuitton handbag, but seeing what the locals did, avoiding the main thoroughfares and walking down the narrow laneways they use, shopping at the same dingy supermarkets for fruit, watching the locals painting the canal outside their home etc.

Try and see Venice before it gets any more touristy than it already is! 😊

Rome also has numerous tourists, but it's actually large enough to cater to all of them. It's a city that's just so rich in history, a home to a formerly great empire, and consequently to many great ancient ruins that sit alongside the modern hustle and bustle of cars and evil knieval moped riders.

There are so many great sights to see and visit like the colosseum, roman forum, the pantheon, trevi fountain, the sistine chapel and so much more. It has such a rich and textured history, and it was great to share it with great company as well.

One of the defining moments for me in rome was sitting underneath a fountain, talking about life philosophies with French Canadians in front of the pantheon over some brie cheese and cheap red wine. Price of ridiculously dense bread, the creamiest brie cheese ever and surprisingly good wine? 5 euros. Having one of those 'I can't believe I'm here, this is so cool' kind of moments? Priceless 😊

My visit of Italy concluded in Florence, another pretty city so rich with culture and so important during the renaissance period. I got the opportunity to see David in the flesh (you know what i mean), as well as 'the birth of venus'. Florence though, is sadly another city that could easily fall prey to the mobs of tourists that flock to feed off the cultural carcass.

Ok, before concluding, I must say something about the food.

The pizza in Italy is divine. It's so different from the pizza at home. Pizza in Italy is all about subtleness. It begins with thin, unobtrusive pizza dough with only a light slathering of tomato paste, followed by only 2-3 toppings and some cheese. The end result is pizza that is subtle, yet because of its simplicity each individual ingredient gets a chance to shine on your palette. It's delicious!!
(This is just as well because Chinese food in Italy is a bit crap and probably the 3rd worst I've had in Europe)

Ok, it's time to go, and I'll keep you posted again soon.

Ciao! (Ciao Bella to all the ladies..haha)

Cheers,
Ben

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