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We caught the 10:55am train out of Bologna Centrale headed for Venice St. Lucia station. It was probably a two and a half hour train ride through the northeastern Italy, stopping in small towns made up of four separate words and the decent sized city of Padova. I like the whole process of taking trains places because you can look out the window and at least see the areas of a country you aren’t spending any time in.
We crossed the causeway that connects mainland Italy to the island city of Venice. Hopped off the train, weaved through the station, and out the doors for our grand entrance into Venice.
Let me back up for a moment, before arriving to Venice I already had it in my mind that I was going to hate Venice, just from hearing stories from people I have met on this trip and some back in the States about how the city smells, its expensive, and its stuffy, both weather-wise and crowd-wise. So after all this negative feedback, I contemplated not even going to Venice, just blowing off the reservations we made and spending an extra day in Switzerland. I was convinced I was
Rialto Bridge
From the Rialto Bridge going to hate this place, my face grimacing through the station. But then I stepped out the doors of St. Lucia and wow.
The Grand Canal was right in front of us, Water Taxis, gondolas, and resident boats skimming on it and under a bell-curve looking stone bridge. Sure there were a lot of people, tourists, but Richard and I are tourists, and tourists flock to interesting, beautiful places. Tourists don’t flock to Omaha, Nebraska (no offense to anyone from there). And maybe we were just lucky, but the weather was perfect. Not very humid (remember its an island, which means its surrounded by water) and the smell wasn’t horrible (remember its an island, which means its surrounded by water, sea water). There was even a nice cool breeze making its presence every now and then and scattered clouds monitoring the sun’s intensity. Our hotel was right around the corner from the station, down an alley that actually had restaurants and hotels on it. We ditched our heavy bags in the room and ventured out into the city.
Over the bridge and into what I called the corn maze, except the walls were tiny canals and five story Mediterranean style buildings, and some of those buildings act as the canals’ banks, stuck right in the water. There are no cars on the island, so its all sidewalks, which is very nice and makes the city quiet. I think the paths built themselves, because they go whatever direction they must have felt like at the time. There are also narrow, I mean five feet wide, alleys that may even lead you somewhere. Richard and I just sort of took impulsive rights and lefts in this maze with Rialto Bridge and St. Mark’s Square being the end goals. We stopped for pizza made by a nice old lady and then went back to our quest.
We cheated, and noticed there are signs on the walls of buildings pointing you to Rialto Bridge and St. Mark’s Square so those became our guides. We came to Rialto Bridge and it’s like an outdoor market with a lot of vendors selling glasswork (Venice is famous for the Murano glass made on one of the outlying islands) and creepy Carnivale masks. Crossed Rialto and not much later we were in St. Mark’s Square, which I had no idea was so massive. Its cool, they have amazing murals on the buildings and statues and a bell tower. Not to mention tons of pigeons. Some people were feeding them and some pigeons would attach themselves to their shoulders or forearms. It was pretty funny. We walked over the edge of the square, which is the edge of the island, and you can look out across the water and some of the other islands you can take Water Taxis to. We decided to take advantage of the amazing glass craftsmanship and buy some gifts for the women in our lives. I also found an electronics store and bought a converter that will actually work with my laptop.
Got kind of lost after the shopping and on our way back to the hotel. Someone is looking out for us, because we turned a blind corner and there was the train station across the Grand Canal, so we knew exactly where we were. Rested a bit and then at around 8pm, we headed out for some dinner. Ate at this trattoria by the hotel. Richard had pizza, but I opted for baked chicken with peppers and rice. Went back to the hotel and actually watched some TV in the lounge area of the hotel. Hadn’t watched TV in weeks or read a newspaper or anything, so we had no idea what was going on in the world. At 10:30pm, we went for a stroll of the city. I like walking around new cities at night, because its less crowded, weather is cooler, and in Venice’s case, it was lighted up in a really awesome way. There were dim street lamps on the paths, the canals and the buildings were lighted up in a neat way, not overdone. The paths were kind of empty. Scattered cafes and ristorantes and trattoria were still open with people sitting streetside, but the waiters were starting to close down shop. Stopped for some coffee with Bailey’s. Walked some more, it started to drizzle which was nice. Made the stone paths cool and refreshing on my sandaled feet. Headed back for the hotel, and now I am down in the lounge typing away and watching Italian MTV and sometimes switching to BBC, but they really aren't saying anything relevant.
I really loved Venice and maybe we were just fortunate and the planets were aligned in a certain way that made it a pleasurable experience with the weather and the crowds. But the thing is, why really ruin your day or happiness by concerning yourself with things you can’t really control like the weather or the amount of people in an area. Their here for the same reason I am. Relax. Tomorrow Milan for the night, and then Switzerland. The people here are so hospitable and have warm personalities. A lot of smiles and jokes from them and very traditional. People I like being around.
Have fun,
Matt
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