Return to the scene of the ice-cream incident: Venice December 2009

---

For those of you in sunny Australia, it may be difficult for you to comprehend how cold it is getting now. Even when the sun is shining - the wind feels like it is making its way though your bones! We decided to brave the elements and head for Venice. I had visited Venice a couple of years ago as a backpacker and had thoroughly enjoyed the city in Winter as it is devoid of the hordes of tourists that swamp it in Summer. Apparently the canals get a bit stinky in the Summer heat as well so we were definitely visiting at the right time.

We flew up from Naples for the exorbitant price of 30 Euro each so were wandering the alleyways of the city a few hours after leaving work on Friday. The flight up on 'Easyjet' was an experience. The airline doesn't have assigned seating so about half an hour before they begin boarding the 'Naples line' starts. A Naples line isn't quite like any other orderly line you see developing at airports. A few people will queue at the door, and then the next couple behind them, and then the next ones will skirt around the side so that they too are 'at the front', and then the next ones will skirt around the side of them until a giant blob of people pushing each other is gathered at a tiny door. Even once boarding begins, newcomers will arrive, blatantly walk around the group of people waiting and merge their way in at the front. After the pushing and queue jumping to get to the ticket counter is complete, one then exits the Air Terminal to board a bus which takes you the 100m to the plane. Im still a little confused about why it is so important to get to the front of the queue when you end up on the same bus, but perhaps its pre-positioning to ensure that you are near a bus door, first off the bus and able to get your pick of seat.

Once finally on the aircraft we realised we had made a fatal error. We were seated two rows behind a family with a very vocal three year old boy. We learned quickly after our arrival in Italy that Italian children can do no wrong and sons in particular are revered and not to be disciplined in any way. This particular boy was screaming at the top of his lungs before we taxied and it continued non-stop for the entire flight. The saga became interesting on descent into Venice when the seatbelt light came on. Son was strapped in but started howling louder and would not stop unless held by Dad. Dad unstrapped son and sat him on his lap which promptly resulted in the Italian male flight attendant coming up and politely asking him to strap in his child. Child was strapped in again and immediately began howling so Dad put him back on his lap where he was thrashing about and crawling over the seat behind him. At this point the Flight Attendant was strapped in and forcefully told him to strap in his son. All of this was obviously carried out in Italian but we are fairly sure we understood the message and hand gestures about calling the pilot and getting the plane to stop landing unless he put his son in a seat. Dad started raising his voice and a fully fledged argument began with the Flight Attendant still strapped in but yelling at Dad across 4 rows. Then Mum stood up and started shaking her fist and screaming at the attendant in a high pitched voice in very fast Italian! I was looking out the window and could see we were only 30 seconds out from landing when the Flight Attendant got up, grabbed son from Dad and forced him into his seat where he screamed for the next 30 seconds while Mum, Dad and Flight Attendant continued yelling each other. The argument continued for the entire ground taxi into Venice and when the seatbelt sign came off Dad got straight up to continue the argument face to face whilst the entire aircraft disembarked. It is always entertaining flying in Italy!

We set out on Saturday morning to explore Venice. Fortunately we had chosen accomodation near the train station as it is almost impossible to navigate through the maze of alleys and canals in Venice with a map as you would need to consult it every 30 steps. The best way to explore is to wander until its time to go home and then follow the signs to the Train Station which are posted on every corner. Our first stop was St. Marks Square where we learned that St. Mark was not the original patron saint of Venice. Back in the early days, each city needed a patron saint and so the city adopted Saint Theodore but then decided that he wasn't quite prestigious enough. Traders stole the body of Saint Mark from Egypt where he was buried, covered the body in pork so that the Muslim inspectors would not investigate too closely, and brought him to Venice where he was reburied in the church in St Mark's Square. A frieze depicting his inauspicious arrival is now painted at the entrance to the Basilica.

Around St. Marks Square it was obvious that the inhabitants were preparing for a flood. Due to changes in the tidal movements through Venice as a result of man made changes to the Italian coastline and rising sea levels, Venice regularly endures meter high flooding in winter. We noticed that throughout St. Marks Square and along the Main Canal, raised boardwalks were already pre-positioned and some of the locals were wandering the town in gum-boots as some of the smaller canals had breached their banks.

The visit to St. Marks Square also brought back memories of an infamous incident in my childhood. In 1985 I visited Venice as a small child. My only memory of this trip is a 5 minute period during which I felt like a millionaire. My Dad handed my sister and I 1600 Lira each to spend on anything we desired. We savoured the idea, we dreamed and then we decided we could start our spending with an ice-cream. After arriving at the gelato store our dreams were crushed when we realised we would need to borrow a further 400 Lira in order to buy just one ice-cream. We weren't quite old enough to have learned about exchange rates. There is still a gelato shop in the place I remember this happening and I wondered if it was the same one as I shared my memory with Jamy!

After St. Marks Square we headed out to the island of Murano which is famous for its glass. The island is filled with glass shops specializing in either jewelry or ornaments for the house. At one of the factories we were able to watch the glass blowing process which certainly looks like it takes a bit of skill. The artisan started with a blob of hot glass and continuously turned it whilst making small adjustments and ended up with a glass horse which stood on its two back legs. After seeing it take around 2 minutes we were not so sure that the 100 Euro horses in the shops were that much of a bargain though - glass blowing is obviously a lucrative career!

The remainder of our time in Venice was spent exploring the various islands that make up the main part of the city. Apparently there are over 100 islands on which the city is built so you feel like you are constantly crossing bridges. It is interesting to think about the logistics of the city as there are obviously no roads on which to transport goods for the shops and restaurants. During the morning we would see numerous barges filled with boxes of produce plying the canals to drop off the daily supplies to businesses. We were also amused to see a gondola serving as the local vegetable store along one canal and he appeared to be doing a booming business.

Venice is undoubtedly the most unique city I have ever visited and certainly remains one of my favourite. Unfortunately it is becoming a victim of the enormous tourist trade and we have seen articles in the papers here covering protests which are regularly held by the locals. Venice has become one of the most expensive cities in Europe - 4 euro coffees and 18 euro plates of pasta. The price of accommodation has also risen as the hoteliers move in and tourists seek apartment living and apparently many of the locals are being forced to move somewhere cheaper. It is sad to think that in future years we will be visiting a city in which the canals and buildings will still be there, but the glimpses into Venetian life such as the local vegetable gondola man won't.

---

Photos

Coffee by the canal
Note the overflowing canal at Jamy's feet courtesy of all the recent rain. Coffee stops were a regular event over the weekend as it as so chilly!

St. Mark's Square
The boardwalks on the left of the picture are pre-positioned for flooding over Winter

The Cemetery
Venice has one island which serves solely as a cemetery and it had more greenery and trees than anywhere else we saw in the city.

Comments

[Taryn]

Beautiful Mel
Hi Mel, It's wonderful to read about all your travels. Glad you are enjoying yourselves, and making the most of your time in Italy! Just a tad envious, I am.

[Leah Johns]

It is sad.
Great blog. I totally agree with you about Venice becoming too touristy. It is very sad that so many locals are being forced to leave. Venice won't be Venice much longer I fear.