The city with no cars

Written on Saturday, 23 May 2009: Day 4 from Venice, Italy at 7:40am

Milan's Central Station

We made it to Venice (due east of Milan) along with thousands of other tourists. Despite the crowds, heat, confusion, and narrow twisting streets, we passed colorful vendors, irresistible shops, and stunning Venetian waterways and eventually lugged our bags—bumping into other lost travelers—for over an hour towards our hostel in Castello (located on the main islands of Venice Proper). Though we packed fairly light, we realized right away we made the mistake of not bringing a suitcase with wheels and so had to carry by hand a duffle bag (along with two backpacks, a canvas bag, and guitar) for 4 or so kilometers. We wandered the streets trying to pin-point the hostel, only to realize our map was mislabeled (which was the last thing we needed considering how crazy the streets are—think spaghetti), but eventually made it to our hostel. Our room was a unit above some sort of laundromat and we were happy to find we had a room with four beds to ourselves, as well as a bathroom and balconies—like a little apartment. However, there was no kitchen of any sorts, which was a huge annoyance. Venice is known for having not only extremely expensive, but also really bad food, so we planned in advance to do our own cooking.

We visited a supermarket and bought a few small staples, like yogurt and muesli, then had dinner at a modest eatery, only to leave feeling hungry, taken advantage of, and €16.5 (about $20) poorer. Seth’s spaghetti Bolognese was like a can of Chef Boyardee and my two cannellonis were not much better, and the portion was even smaller. Not the best first impression of ‘real’ Italian food, but at least the wine was cheap.

Pre-dinner snack

Post-dinner snack

After ‘dinner’ we topped off our appetite with gelato. We wandered away from the main tourist drag and stumbled upon a drab looking shop with just a few flavors to choose from. We were happy to find we essentially got four scoops for the price of two. After this we were feeling a bit better about our situation and spent the rest of the evening exploring the decongested campi, fondamente, and ruge. Venice is funny because most of its visitors are day-trippers so there is hardly any nightlife, and the city clears out and calms down by 9pm or so. Normally packed shoulder to shoulder, we had the famous Piazza San Marco practically to ourselves, besides an orchestra playing at one of the historic cafes, and a multitude of entwined couples on the steps of the piazza, looking as though each were re-enacting a scene from some Hollywood romance just meters from their neighboring couple.

Typical Venetian mask shop

Our second day in Venice (Thursday) began with a nice slow run through some of the neighborhoods. It was wonderful that the streets were so quiet, besides street cleaners, people walking to work, and the occasional runner. We ran back to Piazza San Marco, then headed east towards Arsenale which led to a surprising stretch of parkland. I had no idea this was here, but after running on very hard stone walkways, the occasional dirt path was very refreshing.

Piazza San Marco

Canal

Unexpected park

Riva degli Schiavoni (the main artery that runs between the piazza and our hostel)

After this, we left the hostel, stopped to buy some food for the day at the supermarket (yogurt, a couple apples, bread, mini jars of pasta sauce and processed cheese) and Seth embarked on his first research in a foreign country at the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana in the Piazza San Marco. He never got a confirmation email from the library and he wasn’t sure if they would let him view their manuscripts (or if they were even open). Luckily everything worked out well and he spent the rest of the day going through the original manuscript of Il Pastor Fido, written by the author’s hand. I wasn’t allowed to come in, so I joined the sea of tourists and read on the steps of the Piazza, listening to a different orchestra this time at the other historic café. Once I was nice and sore from sitting there, I went for a walk to look for a nice place to have coffee and read for a bit. Of course I spent an hour wandering around bumping into people, trying to get out of the San Marco area, only to keep ending up at San Marco. I eventually found a café and ordered my €1.50 cappuccino, and after paying the €0.50 service charge to sit at a table, I was charged €0.50 more to use the bathroom. I don’t know if this happens everywhere, but it definitely made me feel a bit taken advantage of.

Waiting at the piazza next to the outdoor seating for the famous Cafe Florian

I met up again with Seth when he was finished for the day, and we walked across the Grand Canal to the Rialto. We bought a calzone and ham wrap, and had those with our bread and sauce sitting on a pier while watching the day’s last tourist boats pass

On the bridge to the Rialto (the Grand Canal)

Seth with his box of long-life milk, pretending to be one of the young wine and beer drinkers at some trendy bar

Dinner on the pier

Yesterday (Friday), our third day in Venice, started off with another jog around the park on the eastern end of Venice Proper, followed by a trip to the church on the Isla de San Pietro. When we returned, I grabbed a few things at the supermarket and Seth went back to work at the library. During this time I ventured back to the Rialto (where we ate dinner the night before), which during the day is a lively produce and fish market. Because of the twisting, disorienting streets, it took an hour to get there , but I passed by many churches, opera houses, and a peeked inside a museum of old instruments; there was one bizarre instrument that was like a violin with a trumpet (or at least the horn) attached. I have never seen anything like it before…

En route to the Isla de San Pietro

Morning delivery (On the way to the supermarket)

Besides fruit and sea food, the Rialto also had a fantastic cheese shop, cafes, and butchers—one even specializing in horse meat! I loaded up on some much desired produce and ‘real’ cheese (but no horse), then met back up with Seth at the library. At 4:30 he finished up and we rushed out to try to make it into Basilica di San Marco before it closed. This worked great because by this time the queue to enter was very short and the sun was going down. We had a good 30min to gush over the gorgeous, golden interior. From here we went back to the hostel, grabbed our food, then meandered down and around to the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Salute (the big impressive building visible across the Grand Canal from the piazza), where we ate our somewhat more elaborated dinner of bread, Gorgonzola, sauce, and fruit. We topped off the evening with a cappuccino at the funky black-light-lit Cuban café next-door to the hostel (we were invited to a birthday party there the following night).

Why eat cow when you've got horse?

The Rialto's produce and fish market

Yes, that is a McDonald's amongst all those fancy tourist-traps (I don't know which is worse...).

...the better option!

San Marco, up-close

Chiesa di Santa Maria della Salute

The Cuban bar downstairs

Last night we had a mother and daughter (who came to Italy from Germany for only one night) to share our room—luckily they also shared the mosquitoes which had done a terrible number on Seth and me the past few days.

Our room (pre-roommates)--not exactly what you'd call 'posh' (notice the smashed mosquitoes on the walls)