Originally Posted May 14, 2011
Italy – Part 2
Relatively expensive train ride to get to Venice in comparison to my other trips, but it was a nice ride with nice views, so no complaints. As I walked out of the Venice train station I was immediately greeted with the canals, buildings, and boats; just the picture of Venice. Literally made me stop in my tracks and I had a moment of appreciation of how cool this was. There were no hostels available that didn’t have bed bugs (hence the conversation the day before), and the hotels on the island were silly expensive, so I ended up in a hotel on the mainland 15 minutes away by bus. The hotel itself turned out to be great. By far the cheapest option, my own bed, bathroom, safe, clean, wireless Internet, all was well. There was however one defining characteristic of this hotel. I couldn’t possibly put it better than one keen reviewer and I quote, “they didn’t have breakfast service and place. They gave some bread and coffee from vending machine. But I should pay all my money. The front could not speak English. There were some street girls on the street. It was not good for children.” Thank you Anonymous guest from Germany, for finding the words I couldn’t. Yes, there were prostitutes roaming the street in front of the hotel. It was a main street, but not very inhabited and kind of industrial. These girls were out there all day, everyday. I arrived on a Sunday afternoon to sights of WAY too much skin. I had read the reviews, so I was prepared for it, but it was still funny. And it did set the stage for one memorable rendezvous. I was coming home one night to my hotel and I ran into a lady of the night on the street. I was blown away to see that I actually went to Junior High with this girl. I took her aside and asked her, “why you out here looking for cash? I guess a whole lot has changed since I seen you last.” And I’ll never forget what she said to me, she said, “What would you do if your son was at home, crying all alone on the bedroom floor cause he’s hungry. And the only way to feed him is to sleep wit a man for a little bit of money. So for them this is just a good time, but for me this is what I call life, mmmm.” Honestly she really put things into perspective for me, so I wished her well and went back to my hotel. Alone. Don’t be gross.
Venice was spectacular. Even though I had my best day in Cinque Terre, Venice was easily my favourite destination and quite possibly the most beautiful city I have ever seen. It is exactly how you think it is and exactly how it looks in the movies, but so incredible to witness in real life. Canal after canal, I was constantly picking up my camera to take pictures. I literally had to make a conscious effort to stop taking pictures because it had been hours and I had only seen the city through a camera lens. I saw all of the major sites and the amazing main square Piazza San Marco, and ended up sitting along the boardwalk to witness the first sunset of my trip. A surreal experience having the backdrop of the setting sun over the unbelievable city of Venice. I did my best to capture it with my camera, but it is an image that will forever be seared into memory. As it was getting dark I had to make my way across the city to the bus station. As someone who considers himself pretty solid with directions, Venice proved to be a valiant opponent. Even with map in hand, this is a city not easily navigated. After unintentionally taking the long route, I made my way to the hotel with a sandwich and a bottle wine (no surprise, but not a lot of late-night food options on sketchy hotel street). Unfortunately I learned that 2 star hotels are not equipped with bottle openers, therefore I experienced what I was told is a true Italian bottle opening tradition involving a screw, screwdriver, and 3 sets of pliers. After 20 minutes, and some laughs with the hotel workers, I was drinking my wine while holding my newest souvenir of a cork with a screw in it.
My next day in Venice was another day of walking around and this time doing my best to get lost to truly appreciate the city. I bought some gifts, did some writing, some sketching, had my first pasta (spaghetti carbonara, disappointing), back to the hotel with sandwich and wine, but this time I brought my own opener. I decided to take a day trip to Verona the next day, so I was up early to get there. I didn’t know a lot about the city going in, but was pleasantly surprised. There is an Arena in the center of the city similar to the Coliseum in Rome. I went inside and unfortunately it was set up for a concert, so the modern seating and stage kind of ruined the true motif, but it was still cool to see. Romeo and Juliet was set in Verona, so the famous balcony scene took place somewhere in the city. I knew it was there, but had no idea where. I stumbled upon it off one of the main streets. It began as a little dark tunnel with walls covered in signatures of love that lead to the square that holds the balcony. It was filled with tourists, but still cool to see. It was another Tuscan city, so the buildings, mountains, canals, etc. were all fantastic. There is a castle in the city, so I was able to walk through that. Another day of just walking and appreciation, but I really enjoyed the city.
I woke up to my final day in Venice and my final day of traveling. My flight wasn’t until 1030pm, so I dropped my bags at the train station and had arranged to meet another friend from Cinque Terre. He had seen Venice the day before, so we decided to spend our day touring the islands. We started with Murano, which is famous for its glass blowing. There are a bunch of glass blowing factories around the island, many of which allow people to watch them work. We sat in on a couple of sessions and it was amazing to see what these guys can do. They were making chandeliers, horse figurines, vases, everything. Extremely impressive. Along with these factories are the shops that sell the actual finished products. Literally every other shop was a glass store, all selling very similar stuff. After a while, we investigated to realize that the cheaper pieces were actually imported from China, whereas the expensive stuff was made in Murano. Murano was very much a mini-Venice, so it had the same look with canals, boats, etc. lining the island. After Murano we made our way to another island called Lido, which is a beach island. The majority of the coast is covered in beaches, but unfortunately we couldn’t take full advantage, as I had to make my way to the airport. Lido was great though, it had the feeling of a beach town and didn’t feel at all like I was in Venice. We made our way to the bus station and after a goodbye to Daniel, I headed to the airport. Lineups and delays made for an unfortunate and annoying end to my trip, but I arrived safe in London with a bittersweet feeling. I was glad to be home, but already missed the excitement of travel.
I am here in London until my lease runs out on my flat, so I still have plenty of time to live life in Europe. I am hoping to do some more traveling before I head back to Canada, but we shall see. Until then I am enjoying the great weather in London and trying to create excitement worthy of The Traveling Gentlemen.
Take care.
No Regrets.
Pete