Fish, Rubber Boots, and Gondolas: Waterlogged in Venice

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Directly upon exiting the train in Venice station, I was instantly aware of something that I had not been expecting. This thing brought such an overwhelming feeling of happiness and transported me back to New Hampshire momentarily. I had gone so long without my most favorite scent: the smell of salt water. I have always long associated this scent with home and with it comes a sense of comfort, of course it didn't hurt that I had just come out of the snowy mountains. This was a great sign to start off my trip to the canal laden city of Venice.

The second thing that I noticed when walking through the train station, was how many couples there were. I laughed to myself as I was able to easily pick out a newlywed couple. I am no Sherlock Holmes, but the fact that these two young individuals were walking hand in hand, even when inconvenienced by their (matching) luggage was a pretty clear sign to me. Beyond that I could make the assumption that they were American, since one of them carried an all too easy to spot L.L. Bean backpack.

Luckily, newlywed couples do not generally stay in hostels, and I walked into a great community upon entering The Venice Fish. This is the beautiful thing about staying in hostels, even though the accommodations aren't five star standards (or even two star), what you are almost always able to find is a group of people willing to take you into their lives for a few hours, a few days, or even a few weeks. This reciprocal generosity tends to bring together those with varying cultures, backgrounds, languages, and personalities in an environment where acceptance is the norm. This was enhanced even more since the hostel prepared dinner for everyone each night. Since the path through Italy tends to be quite similar for travelers, I was able to not only tour around with some great people in Venice, but continued to meet up with some of them all the way down to Rome. (I am actually sitting next to another member of “the fish” a Brazilian named Paulo, in my hostel in Rome)

As alluded to in my title, my experience in Venice was epitomized by the theme of water. What you might not realize is that Venice is slowly sinking and during the fall and winter months the streets will flood from a few inches to a solid foot. To counter this, the city erects some really classy platforms for everyone to walk on. The locals are smart and wear rubber boots during these months and the street vendors are even smarter because they sell these trash bag looking leg coverings for eight to ten euro a pop. So you can picture my first day of exploring was completely waterlogged with the canals, the flooding, and of course it was raining heavily.

My highlight from the first day was the Palazzo Ducale, which was where the Doge (Duke) of Venice conducted government and was originally put into operation in the ninth century! The building was exceptionally elegant and if I were coming in to do business with the government I would certainly have been intimidated looking up at the powerful elites with awe-inspiring paintings surrounding them. One of the most impressive rooms was the one that housed the Major Council, which could hold every noble in the region when a session called for it. This room also holds one of the world's largest oil paintings: Paradiso by Tintoretto, which measures twenty-two meters by seven meters. Even more intimidating would be the potential to be sent to the infamous Venice prisons, where you would first have to cross the “bridge of sighs,” which is so named because you would be given one last view of the lagoon while being led through the tunnels to your cell.

If the day spent in the Doge had some of the worst weather of my trip, the next one was undoubtedly one of the best. A group of us went to Piazza San Marco, the most famous square in Venice and soaked in some amazing sun on the roof of the Basilica. We were able to watch as many tourists flocked by underneath us, trying to navigate the platforms over the flooded plaza, and locals ate in waterlogged bars decked out in their rubber boots. Of course, the interior of the basilica was impressive in its own right as you can see in the pictures posted.

After spending an inordinate amount of time sunning, I decided to make my way out to Murano, an island famous for its glass making. It is said that the crafting of glass products has been occurring on Murano for over a thousand years and that it is supposed to be some of the highest quality in the world. I was determined to see one of these masters in action and waltzed into the first workroom I could find, and found I had to pay five euro to see a show, which I did, not realizing that other places would let you in for free! The first show I went to did allow you to see the master craftsman create a piece up close, which you can see in the posted video here:

. The second location I went to let you sit for however long you wanted and just leave a tip. Both of these experiences showed me how incredibly talented these artisans are. It was such a cool experience to see a blob of melted glass slowly transform into something else with only a few tugs and morphing techniques used by the masters.

My final item on the Venice checklist was one that most people think of first when discussing the canal city: a gondola ride. Here you may be picturing me on a romantic ride with a lucky young lady, with the gondolier singing while paddling under countless bridges, but my trip was a bit different. Having learned that an average gondola trip would cost about one hundred euro, which is much more than I budgeted myself for a day, I figured that the .50 euro gondola ferry across the grand canal would be just as suitable. I was able to sit next to a kindly older Venetian woman, who happily posed for my picture and enjoyed the two to three minute trip on the water. So I can safely say that I have been on a gondola in Venice, regardless of how it occurred!

Videos: (More to come, hostel upload speed is slow...)
Piazza San Marco:

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Comments

[anonymous]

I've heard people who said they hated Venice but I was there just before Christmas so it wasn't crowded with tourists and I found it to be thoroughly enjoyable. Did you geet up to see horses in San Marco's? They are the original ones made for the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Since it was Christmas season and we were in Italy I expected to see my lovely holiday decorations. They weren't there. One of my favorite photos is of a little tree in a wooden bucket with soft drink cans hanging from it. Jean