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Published: August 28th 2006
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Land Ho.
Approaching the Great Venezia. It’s that thought or something similar to that effect, that ran through my mind as I wandered about the slow sinking City of Venice soaking in the Beauty, the Paradoxes, the electricity and the extravagance of this Phantom city of my dreams. It was one of the 3 must sees of my European trip, the other 2 are Neushwanstein Castle and Paris.
As we entered Italy from Austria, one thing struck me, was the industrial clutter along the route, something I avoided seeing in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. I learned that most of Italy’s most industrial cities of Milan, Torino and Genoa are in the North, which may explain it. I expected to see more the Italy of cobblestone villages, women washing clothes in a stream, donkeys pulling carts, etc. or the Italy of the movies like Cinema Paradiso, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Divorce, Italian Style, and not the Italy of the Ferrarri and Gucci Factories.
However, there were beautiful unspoiled sceneries especially near the lakes, one of which was called Como. We stopped in one of the lakeside villages of lunch. I excitedly ordered a Pizza for lunch. Excited because I was finally going to taste my
first Pizza in the Cradle of the Pizza. Unfortunately, I have to report it was quite a disappointment. Where I live, we have Pizza Hut, Dominos, Papa John’s, Boston’s, etc. so I’m quite exposed to the world of Pizza. What was served seemed merely a round cracker with melted cheese on it. I don’t know if Jenny Craig has Pizza in her selection, but if she does, that Pizza would certainly have been what I’d expected it to taste like. Sorry, Jenny.
We also stopped at Verona, prior to lunch and it was nice. Especially since our itinerary didn’t include Rome, I was glad I at least got a glimpse of what a Roman Colesium looks like though I imagine it’s much smaller than the one in Rome. Also got to see where Juliet lived.
Then it was off to the main attraction which of course was Venice. I’ve seen quite a few film clips of the City and of course was fascinated with every aspect of it, especially the surrealism of it, in which it seem to just float on the water. Was it just good camera tricks, I wondered? However, once I saw it with my
own eyes, I can say it’s truly how it looks in the clips and even more so.
First stop was of course the famous San Marcos Piazza or St. Mark’s Plaza, a hugh cobblestone square surrounded by shops and restaurants filled with people. The main attractions was the Gothic Basilica, the Doge Palace, The Bell Tower and of course the thousands of Pigeons. The guide took us inside the Basilica and next to a glass blowing factory. The factory guide demonstrated the strength of the glass goblets by bouncing it down on the table without it breaking. He also made a Mafioso joke regarding credit cards, which I guess being a natïve Italian, he could get away with. American PC hasn’t contaminated the whole world yet. Haha.
We were then free to roam about on our own and had to meet within several hours for a scheduled Gondola ride and later dinner at a Restaurant within the town. It was quite a switch for us, as most of our dinners were at the hotels we stayed at which certainly weren’t 5 stars, so the food was nothing to write home about.
Visions of Veal Parmesean. Scampi, Chicken
Along The Promenade.
Next to The Adriatic Sea. Caccitore, Lasagna, Clam Lingiuni and Spaghetti dance through my brain. Frankly I’m not really familiar with Italian dishes though I hear the names mentioned a lot. Most Italian restraurants here are of Fine Dining types which I don’t frequent very often. My experience with Italian foods are mostly with Sbarros.
After enjoying the narrow alleys of shops, homes, canals and the busy promenade along the sea, we went on our Gondola ride. It was great with serenading and all. After that, we finally went to my greatly anticipated restraurant dinner. The menu selection was already decided on, by our tour guide, I think, which took lots of pressure off us in having to decide among the many wonderful dishes. Well, dinner was served and what did we have? Vegetarian!! Arrgghh!!!
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