Venice
- August 05, 2002
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My favorite city is Venice, hands down. It is absolutely the most romantic city I’ve ever been in. The Italians there are friendly, the scenery is amazing, the amount of shops that carry all kinds of items is mind-boggling and the gondola rides are worth every lira.
My favorite part of the city is the Piazza San Marco. When I was there, there were about 5 billion pigeons all over the ground cooing and vying for crumbs from the tourists. The sky was a gorgeous blue and the basilica stood out in vivid color. It was fun just to sit there with my friends and relax.
From there, we hired a gondola and rode through the canals. I was with some friends and their parents, but if I would’ve been with just a woman, we would’ve been making out! It was a perfect 10 on the romance scale. We wound our way slowly through the tiny canals with birds flying around and listening to Italians talking to each other between buildings. During our ride, some man sitting behind his house was playing the mandolin and singing. It was beautiful and only added to the feeling of romance.
The Rialto Bridge was amazing. It was built in the late 1500’s and is the best way to see the Grand Canal without taking a gondola ride. I just stood at the top of it over and watched all the “water taxis” go by. There are shops all over it and everyone trying to sell you something.
What makes Venice so nice is that there are no cars allowed anywhere. Most people walk, ride a bicycle or take a water taxi to get anywhere. Because of that, there isn’t the usual city background noise of traffic and the air is clearer.
One of my fondest memories was a yelling match between me and an old Italian woman who owned the building I was staying at. Let me explain. We got there late at night, and needed to find a place to stay. So my friend and I split up from the family we came down with so we’d have a better chance of finding a place to stay. This is the same friend I camped and hiked with in Hawaii a few years earlier. Anyway, we wandered around for about 30 minutes and couldn’t find any place to stay. The water taxis stop giving rides after 11pm, so we couldn’t go to the youth hostel. Eventually, we found this tiny 4 story building with a hotel sign on it. We climbed the stairs, and found an old lady, who didn’t speak a lick of English, sitting at a desk. She brought us up to the very top, where she had converted her attic into a makeshift “hotel” for foreign young people. It was awesome! And illegal! But it was cheap so we decided to stay there. We had to share a bed, but it was large. In the morning, I opened the window and noticed we were right on a gorgeous canal next to an old church. The church bells were ringing, people were milling about and the weather was perfect! Later that day, though, we came back to check up on our stuff and the old lady had given our room to someone else! She had misunderstood us. So I tried telling her that she made a mistake and should give us our room back. She started yelling at me in Italian and I yelled at her in English. We were both gesturing and pointing trying to get our points across. Eventually we worked it out, and immediately after, she put her arm around me and called me a sweet boy in Italian. She was genuine too. She was just like a doting grandmother. It was so typical of Italians. If you watch them, they get into these arguments and look like they will start fighting. Then right before you think it’s going to go down, they hug each other, smile and walk off to get some coffee or something. So my episode with the old woman made me feel like I had experienced the true Italy.
Before we left, we were walking back through many narrow alley ways, intentionally trying to get lost. It was fun to just wander and enjoy the scenery with friends. There was no rush, no hurry. We eventually found our way to a small square where there were NO tourists and we stuck out like sore thumbs. There were little kids running around giggling and kicking a soccer ball. There were old people playing chess and laughing. There were dogs running around and chasing the kids. Sunlight was streaming in between the buildings and made everything seem like a dream. We found a tiny ice cream shop and bought some. By the way, the best ice cream I ever had was in Venice too. We sat down in the square and enjoyed the scenery and ice cream. I think that is the picture I’ll always have of Venice. It was so relaxed, beautiful and romantic, it really did seem like a dream. When I get married, Venice is where I will honeymoon.
more info: More info on Venice at Europe For Visitors