When the Moon Hits Your Eye

There are no cars in Venice, at least not on the island.  Similarly, there is no airport directly in Venice, just nearby.  My original plan was to take the train into Venice, where there IS a train station, but that plan got dashed when every single train ticket from anywhere in France or Switzerland to Venice was already purchased.  So, I booked a cheap flight, and a room at an airport hotel.

We arrived late, and the shuttle that was supposed to take us to the hotel was not to be found.  So, we took a taxi.  Things were off to an ominous start when the taxi driver had no idea where the hotel was.  The name of the hotel is the "Airport Venice Hotel" so I naturally assumed it was near the airport.  In fact, the hotel is neither near the airport nor in Venice.  It was, however, a hotel, so at least one word of its name was accurate.  Anyways, our taxi driver took us to the "Hotel Venice Airport" (also not near an airport or Venice, nor was it the hotel we had booked a reservation at) where the very nice clerk sorted out where we needed to go, and called a cab to get us there.  When we finally arrived, it was 10:00 (almost two hours later than I expected to arrive) and we had not eaten supper.  Furthermore, the hotel was not near any sort of food establishment, so we were just hungry.

The next day, we took the train into Venice (which took half an hour) and finally arrived in the city we were attempting to get to.

From August 20 Venice

Now, I am going to start by listing off all of the terrible things about Venice, so that when I get 'round to the good stuff, you can understand how great they must be to overcome it.

First of all, Venice is crowded.  I very cleverly bought transit tickets ahead of time, thinking this would save me having to stand in a line to buy them.  It did not, so I had to stand in a big line (although I was used to this from the theme park the previous day) and get my tickets just like everyone else, except that I had already paid.  Also, there is nowhere to sit in Venice, because there are so many people, and they are already sitting where you want to sit.  We went to St. Mark's Square (basically the tourist centre of the city) and there was literally nowhere to sit except on the concrete, which is a serious problem because...

From August 20 Venice

Venice is very hot.  Christopher Scott is writing his travel blog from China, where he has recently passed through Hong Kong.  I have been to Hong Kong myself at exactly this time of year two years ago, and I feel qualified to say that Venice is every bit as hot and humid as Hong Kong, despite being much further north.  It was 35 degrees in the shade yesterday, which is about as hot as I ever hope to be.  Furthermore, since Venice is basically in the ocean, it's pretty humid here as well.  So humid, in fact that it is impossible not to have a small sheen of liquid on you at all times, a combination of sweat and the ambient humidity.

Another distinction between Hong Kong and Venice is the lack of air conditioning.  Air conditioning appears to be about as common as it is in Prince George, which is rather shocking for a place that is SO HOT.  (another difference is the lack of Chinese, but that's not too hard to explain).  In a hilarious side note, when we were landing in Venice, Darcy looked out the window at the darkening city, and said, "oh, it looks chilly, we better get out our coats."  This was, of course, because the cold air vent on the plane was blowing on her, and upon disembarking, we were hit by a wave of heat and humidity.

Venice is also very noisy.  I got a hotel room (for the second and third nights in Venice) right in the city, with a canal view, which I thought would be fun.  Unfortunately, that's like having your hotel facing a street, a street which people love to do things on until late into the night.

From August 20 Venice

You know how there are those people who turn up the music ridiculously loud in their cars, and then drive around, thinking the whole world wants to listen to their music?  Imagine that, but instead of a closed in car, it's an open top boat immediately outside your window (no lawns or trees or anything to block out the noise), and you've got the idea of what things were like around 11:00 pm last night.

Most of the things I mentioned are circumstantial, so they can't really be held against the city.  I suspect in the cooler off season, Venice would be perfectly magical.

From August 20 Venice

Now to the stuff I like.  As I mentioned before, Venice had no cars.  When I first heard about this, I assumed it was something they had done as a sort of gimmick to keep their downtown historic.  This is not the case.  I have not seen a single road that a car would fit on, and every single one of the bridges we have crossed have stairs on them, making them particularly unfit for cars to drive over.  Furthermore, no path goes in a linear pattern for more than a few hundred meters without zigging and zagging all over the place, around and under buildings, so the only way cars could be brought here is if they bulldozed basically everything, and started over.

From August 20 Venice

Walking around, down narrow little twisty alleys, and through big squares, filled with beautiful churches, and lovely unique little buildings, and not having to worry about being run down by a bicycle or a car is absolutely wonderful.  Darcy and I often just walk around, exploring, because the city is so fun to just be in.

The canals are gorgeous.  Venice is the third city with canals we have been to (the other two being Amsterdam and Bruges) and they are nothing compared to these.  The canals here are everywhere, they are filled with seawater, and they are beautiful.  Darcy continually wants to jump into one, but so far she has restrained herself. Also, unlike what you might have heard, the canals here do not smell bad. 

From August 20 Venice

Venice is a place that is (in some cases literally) oozing with history.  So much has happened here that it seems like every building has a fascinating story.  I only know some of it, but it's cool to see places that I have heard about before.  We would love to go on a walking tour, but a combination of the heat and our general exhaustion (we really ran ourselves ragged in Paris) has made that not terribly possible.

At any rate, we are going to head off to wander around the city more, and possibly visit an art museum, so enjoy the pictures! More Venice in about 10 hours.