Venezia, A City That Sinks With Grace

Italians love their protests...and I mean LOVE them. They will pretty much protest over anything, they will show their opposition to the government in such unified ways that Americans could only dream about that much support. So we shouldn’t have been shocked when the city went into lockdown over 4 different protests the day we left for Venice. December 14th was a very busy day for Rome.

We were stuck in a standstill by Termini (The Train Station) for almost a half an hour. I just sat in the car and accepted the fact that we would miss our train and have to go on the later one. After living in Italy for 4 months you develop this laissez-fare attitude. There isn’t much you can do about it but wait it out. So we ended up taking the 12:45 train instead of the 11:45. No big deal. We got onto the train in our first class car, yes I had a chance to ride in style. As I sat in the first car of a bullet train I remembered standing on a train to Naples because it was overbooked. AND having to buy the upgraded ticket because we got on a faster train. I had to laugh, I could get used to this kind of travel.

Our Taxi driver was on Facebook. haha I should have friend
requested him

We arrived in Venice about 3 hours later around 4:30 where we called for our private water taxi to take us to the hotel. Our hotel was right behind Piazza de San Marco and of course we had to get lost in the winding streets of Venice with all of our luggage. I kept thinking about the website about Venice I was looking at before we left telling everyone to pack light...well we didn’t follow that rule. We had to ask about 3 times for directions but soon enough we were at our hotel. I think mom was getting annoyed with the hungry bitchy mcbitch that I become when I’m hungry. But, in my defense, all I had to eat that day was a couple of cookies. 

We got into our hotel unpacked a bit and then headed out in search of dinner. But of course we got sidetracked with all the Murano glass and Venetian masks. All I wanted to buy was a good Venetian mask, I didn’t want a crappy souvenir mask. So we found a shop with handmade papier-mache masks. I bought a gorgeous blue one with feathers on one side. I saw it and almost automatically decided I would buy it.

We ate dinner at a restaurant where we learned first hand how expensive Venice is, dinner was not cheap, but the food was very good. Mom actually had spaghetti and meatballs (which is unheard of in Italy) and I had lasagna. We had two glasses of house white and enjoyed tiramisu. I loved every minute of it. We wandered around looking at some more shops and I bought a wine-stopper for all those bottles of wine I’ll have at my apartment....come May of course. 

We headed back to the hotel around 11 and the only thing I wanted was a hot shower. I forgot what it was like to have consistent hot water. It is the most amazing thing. One night at J-Force the water ran cold after one minute and it was SO cold that I had to rinse my hair out in the sink. That was no fun. But this shower was amazing, plus there is a bathtub..and I forgot how much I like baths.

Basilica San Marco

The next day we woke up around 9am had breakfast where my mom quickly fell in love with ciocolatto. I think she is now addicted to Italian hot chocolate. After bundling up against the cold (ok it was like 30 degrees, but still) we walked to Piazza San Marco and saw the amazing mosaics, where is my amazing and adorable Art in Rome professor to tell us all about the mosaics when you need him!?)

We then walked along the end of the Grand Canal to the Canal of Venice as it yawns opens to the sea. We walked down what I thought was another busy street but before we knew it, we were in part of the city tourists rarely go. There was laundry drying hanging high over our heads and Venetians quietly heading home for their siestas. We stopped in a trattoria for a cappuccino and ciocolatto and of course we pick one where a bunch of workmen are finishing up with their lunches. Needless to say I felt awkward and embarrassed to be there. But we ordered and sat down to our hot drinks. My mom brought an article about Venice in winter with her from home. And I should have known that there would be places not filled with tourists..it is winter after all. She writes, “In summer, Venice is torrid, stuffed to the gills with the 18 million tourists who overwhelm it each year, clogging its bridges, swelling its vaporetti, vastly outnumbering the famously grouchy residents and making the city seem like one big floating Disneyland--a perverse metaphor for the future of Italy, if not all of Europe, a place that has staked its future on selling an image of its past and may yet be destroying itself in the process.” Yes, there are still tourists, and like in Assisi 3 months ago it is hard to see a city running solely on tourism. But being here in December you see more of daily life, more children coming home from school. You don’t see the grand canal full of gondolas filled with huge loud families straining to take as many pictures as possible of the Ponte Rialto, nor are the restaurants filled with tourists paying far too much for subpar food.

Palazzo Ducale

Bridge of Sighs..partially covered.

Enough with that rant, we fell asleep from exhaustion and woke up ready for another day. We woke up and headed to the Duge’s Palace in San Marco. It was kind of expensive to get into, but I thought it was worth it. It was the center of political and social life when Venice was at it’s peak. We saw the prison where Casanova escaped and the private apartments of the Duge who is elected by the patriarchal families of Venice. I actually got a bit freaked in the prison with all the small doors and dark twisted passageways. Even though it was only about noon, I did not want to spend anymore time there then I had to. The only thing that sucked was how COLD it was in the palace. They obviously didn’t have heat when it was a living breathing palace but they could at least try and get some space heaters or something! I was freezing all day long!

We took the Vaporetti to Murano next, it was about 14 euro round trip to take a boat to the island famous for it’s glass. I have heard this island has become a tourist trap in the summer, it is covered with tourists buying up glasses by the hundreds. So I was pretty shocked when the island was pretty much dead. There were stores open, but for the most part it was a quiet little island. We wandered around for a bit and I took some pretty pictures of the canal. But soon enough we were just too cold to be walking around outside anymore. We took the boat back (again, it was freezing) and got off a stop early and walked to San Marco. I wanted to head to the Pont Rialto to take pictures of the bridge and the grand canal. Thankfully there are signs with arrows pointing to Rialto and San Marco because otherwise you would be lost in Venice. Maps don’t work, you can buy one to get the general layout of Venice, but otherwise follow the signs and just plan on getting lost. Again Rachel Donadio the author of the Venice in winter article says it best, “In Venice maps fail. As everyone knows, to be in that floating city is to be forever lost and disoriented, as if in a labyrinth.” So take the city for what it is and just follow the “Per Rialto” or “Per S. Marco” signs and you’ll do fine.

We headed back to our hotel to thaw out for a bit, my boots are NOT warm enough for this weather. I took another scalding shower before we headed out for dinner. And that brings us to now, me writing this blog and my mom figuring out all of the things she bought for various people. We leave for Florence in the morning. I’m excited to head back to such a beautiful city, but Venice, my old charming friend, you will always be special.