2nd Stop - Venice

---

---

Ulm - Munich - Verona - Venice (Train)

20 July 2006

With the idea of maximising our Eurail Ticket, we decide to head to Venice, Italy for a couple of days, before we meet up with our friends Linton and Clare in France.

Venice is one of those cities that most people dream of going to; beautiful old buildings built on and reflected in canals, meandering cobblestone alleys where the sound of church bells echo off the walls calling you towards piazzas full of beautiful people, men in striped t-shirts pushing gondolas while singing Dean Martin songs….. ahhh, oh so romantic.

Its just a shame that it is so revered because in summer it’s so full of tourists and so hot that I think it’s lost a bit of it’s charm (that could explain why most of the Italians we had to deal with were a bit rude). Hundreds of groups follow their tour leader around alleys, through piazzas and over bridges while they hold up a coloured umbrella so you don’t lose them (just be careful when you’re trying to get around these swarms of sandal-clad tourists that you don’t get that umbrella poked in your eye as the tour leader decides to point out something interesting on the other side of your head - we had some near misses). I think American tourists now outnumber the pigeons in San Marco Piazza 2 to 1 in summer so be sure to take both some breadcrumbs to encourage the pigeons for that perfect shot in front on San Marco Basilica and some cheap tourist items (such as lace fans, Venetian masks, gondola hats, or aprons with the torso and groin of Michelangelo’s David printed on it) on a cart to divert the tourists away from your perfect photographic shot. But you’ll have to be quick because I’m not the only one who’s thought of this diversionary tactic.

And forget the gondola ride unless you’ve got a spare A$180… you could go on the cheaper ones for A$90 but they don’t sing Dean Martin, the gondola leaks, and frankly the drivers look a bit rough around the edges. In Italy they also charge you more to sit down, so after a long hot day, fighting off tourists to see amazing mosaics in the basilica, you’ve then must stand at the bar (or the window to the bar) to afford the price of a drink and then buy takeaway food and eat it at your nearest picturesque canal side spot (of which there are many admittedly).

Now don’t get me wrong, Venice is beautiful. San Marco’s Basilica is breathtaking; the mosaics are truly heavenly, and the square around it inspiring. We enjoyed winding our way through the skinny alleys, duck-unders, and over little bridges and people watching as the chic Venetians greet each other in their local piazza “Bonjourno Senora” “chaio Bella”, kiss, kiss. The buildings are majestic in their crumbling, rotting way and so like, well, Venice.

Definitely come to Venice before it becomes the next Atlantis (something of great debate in Italy at the moment - whether to spend the billions of Euros to save it or not), but perhaps come and see it in the off-season, when it’s a little cooler and there are a lot less people. I think Autumn would be perfect.

L

---