Shooting Tourists Is Not Part of The Venice Video Game Experience

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Given that there are direct trains from Peschiera to Venice, we figured that that would be an easier way to get there than driving. My memory from Inter-railing was that Italian trains were not the most reliable in the world, reflecting a relaxed Italian attitude to timekeeping. This time however, they seemed very reliable, or at least the two that we caught were.

I think Venice is a fantastic place – it’s said that it’s the only city in the world that’s truly unique and I totally agree. There is nowhere else remotely like it. Given that it hasn’t really changed in hundreds of years, it was of course still exactly the same as it was when I came here Inter-railing some twenty years ago (see All The Romance of Crime Central and Hilariously Funny Italian Army Comedians), not to mention another time in 2003 with my wife for our anniversary.

That said, I can’t imagine what they thought they were doing with the Bridge of Sighs, but it and the buildings each side of it were covered in a cardboard cladding with, well, I have no idea what all over it. I hope it was just temporary to cover up some building work.

The other slight disappointment was that it was absolutely rammed with people. When we got to St Mark’s Square, it was a matter of literally fighting our way through the crowds. Despite that, all the restaurant tables were still empty, but then if they didn’t charge €15 for a glass of water, they might have a lot more customers.

Given that we were finding Italy very expensive, it was dead certain that Venice would be phenomenally expensive so we decided to take some food to eat with us – effectively a picnic, but I really didn’t want to call it that. The one problem we had is where the hell to do eat a picnic in Venice. We did eventually manage to find a patch of grass, but that was already completed carpeted with people who had the same idea we did.

Weirdly, our son led the way and seemed to know exactly how to get around Venice. What we didn’t know is that he had been here hundreds of times, albeit running around shooting at people in one of his Xbox games. The game obviously wasn’t that realistic as it didn’t have all the crowds of tourists to contend with, but they would probably have all been wiped-out in the crossfire.

After a lot of walking, some shopping (a Milan football shirt for our son, a carnival mask for our daughter and some Nutella ice-cream), but no needless gun violence, we got a bus-boat back to the station.

On the train back we amused ourselves playing cards. Every so often the peace was interrupted by four English people shouting “SNAP!” and then arguing about who said it first. The chuckles from around the carriage made me think that it kept everyone amused.

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Photos

Gondolas
The gondolas parked by St. Mark's Square.

The Grand Canal
Viewed from the Rialto Bridge.

Venice Architecture
Some multicolours buildings.

Canals
The narrow side canals all around Venice.