Venice: Who Needs Roads When You've Got Rivers?

Arrival

After spending three days in Lucerne Caiqian and I took a train down to the wateriest city on earth (except perhaps Atlantis), Venice! Unlike Lucerne, we only got to stay here one full day, but that didn't stop us from having a great time. Almost immediately after coming out of the train we knew that this city was unlike any we've ever seen before.

Above: We're in Venice!

Above: Bryan with his stylish orange backpack.

According to our gondolier (more on that later) Venice started off as 117 islands that people kept developing on. As the city grew and grew, the 117 islands became the city of Venice, connected by many, many waterways. Venetians get around by boat instead of car because of this vast river network. In fact, I think every public road vehicle has a boat equivalent somewhere in Venice. Just to get to our hotel, Caiqian and I took our first ever waterbus.

Above: View from a waterbus.

While on the waterbus we made our way through some boat traffic.

Above: There were seriously a lot of boats in Venice.

They even have police boats (I wonder how many high-speed chases they've been through).

Above: Polizia boats.

One surprise was this massive Goliath-boat that was being pulled by a tugboat. Look how tall that thing was! That tower in the background is a full-sized clock tower.

Above: This boat was like a 20-story building.

Eventually we waterbussed all the way to the Raganelli Hotel, our first hotel of the trip. It had the biggest room we've had yet, and Caiqian was especially happy about how high our ceiling was.

Above: You know that feeling when you plop on a bed after a long day? Awesome.

After getting ourselves set up we fell asleep, ready for the full day that lay ahead.

Pigeons

We began our day at Venice at Piazza San Marco, the big central square of Venice. Even though we got there early there was quite a crowd of people already forming. One distinguishing feature of the square is Saint Mark's clock tower.

Above: Saint Mark's Clock Tower.

 One thing I liked was this advertisement where they printed the edges be the building behind it to blend in. Kinda reminded me of an invisibility cloak I guess.

Above: They worked hard to blend advertisements in.

The real reason we were there was not for visiting any museum though. We were there because the pigeons at Piazza San Marco are supposed to be extremely well trained and familiar with people. After buying a bag of chips, Caiqian was ready to try to feed the pigeons.

Above: At first it was like this...

Above: And then it was like this.

Soon the birds started getting too crowded on the floor so they hopped on Caiqian to get better access to the chips.

Above: Uh... there's a bird on your back.

Above: Caiqian, tamer of Pigeons.

We had a great time, and people gathered around to take pictures of Caiqian with all the birds. After she ran out of chips the people and birds left. Except for one guy. He was doing a survey about how it's illegal to feed the birds and that prosecutors could be fined fifty dollars. 

Above: This guy was funny.

After filling out the survey the surveyor asked Caiqian, "Do you think you'd feed the birds again if you knew it was illegal?" I had an answer for that.

Above: Come on you hungry rascals, get over here.

Yeah, immediately after Caiqian  filled our her survey I went back to buy some chips of my own. And I'm glad I did. The way I see it, the birds bring people to the square so all the nearby businesses profit. Also, I'm buying chips from them and the birds are getting fed. Plus it provides entertainment for everyone there. Everybody wins. In fact, there's only one thing I regret.

Above: They have very scratchy feet. Next time wear long sleeves!

It was actually pretty funny. First when I tossed the food in the air the pigeons came. Then when I was surrounded by pigeons the people came. I actually had five or six people give me an outstretched hand because they wanted some of my chips to feed the pigeons. I ended up feeding everyone.

Exploring

Venice is by far the easiest city to get lost in. Because of the high population density the whole city is either alleyways or rivers. Also since there were so many rivers, no alleyway remained straight for long. 

Above: Venice had a lot of alleyways.

Usually when I'm in a new town I just follow Caiqian because she has a finely attuned sense of direction, but here she actually got lost! And who can blame her, with street signs like this.

Above: How do I get to Rialto?

One nice part about being perpetually lost is that you stumble across nice things in Venice without planning to. For example, after walking through a labyrinth of narrow alleyways Caiqian and I came out along the grand canal and found some colorful buildings.

Above: The most colorful buildings in Venice.

There were also some peculiarities, like this door that was sealed off. I wonder if they're doing anything with the house it used to open to.

Above: It must be hard to live in room 4079.

Trinkets sold in Venice are also not what I expected. For a city so based on rivers I expected everyone to be selling little toy boats or the like. Instead what I found was people selling masquerade masks, works of art, glass animals, and maps (everyone gets lost).

Above: Apparently Venetians like The Persistence of Memory.

Above: Glass sculptures and Masquerade masks were surprisingly popular trinkets in Venice.

White suits

I love white suits. Why? Because white suits are cool. Some of the most attractive and distinguished men in recent history have worn a white suit at least once. For example:

Above: Brad Pitt in Ocean's Eleven.

Above: George Clooney

Above: The King of Rock and Roll.

Above: Morgan Freeman as God in Bruce Almighty.

Above: The King of Pop.

And it's just for music and movie stars. Intellectuals love them too. Have you ever read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer or Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?

Above: Mark Twain.

Anyways, the point of this is that white suits are awesome. So awesome that I put in on my bucket list. To my surprise, Venice sold many white suits. This shocked me because I'd always wanted a white suit, but could never find out where to get one. No, I didn't buy one. But being in Venice helped me remember how badly I wanted to. Too bad most of the ones we saw cost over a thousand Euros.

Above: Do Want.

What did happen was that ever since I started looking for white suits in Venice, Caiqian has had a reason to go shopping with me. So later when you see me wearing white, it's probably because of Caiqian and my white-suit hunt that began in Venice.

Gondolas

Before I start, which one of these are gondolas?

Above: Gondolas?

I only realized in Venice that there are two types of gondolas. One word shouldn't mean two things! In programming terms, the word gondola is overloaded. I don't know what the solution is. I guess gondola is just too cool a word for it to belong to any one transport.

Anyways, after exploring by Venice on foot for a couple of hours, we decided to get the real Venice experience. Time for a gondola ride!

Above: Docking Station.

There's a lot of tradition when it comes to gondoliers (gondola drivers). Our gondolier said his family had been gondoliers for five generations (imagine having the same job as your great-great-great-grandpa). Also gondolas are often family heirlooms handed down from father to son.

Each Venetian gondola is unique. Although the exterior is roughly the same, the furnishings and decorations inside are chosen by the gondolier. I really liked the gondola we were in because it has a picture of the Rialto bridge in it. When I asked our gondolier if this was his dad's, he laughed and said that this gondola was actually his friend's since his was being repainted.

Above: Family Heirloom.

Our gondola ride showed us a very different part of Venice. While the populated spots paints Venice as a romantic place, our gondola ride took us through the residential areas where things seemed more grim.

Above: A different view of Venice.

Our guide told us how Venice flooded three times a day and how everything below the water line was very prone to erosion.

Above: The water line and its deadly effects.

Our tour also took us by Casanova's house. For those of you who don't know, Casanova was the original playboy, and boasted to have slept with hundreds of women.

Above: The front door of seduction, Casanova's house.

After our tour we went back to the Rialto bridge and got a pretty Venetian picture of the two of us.

Above: In a gondola in front of the Rialto Bridge.

The Food

We ate at several places, but the best (non-gelato) place by far was at Marco Polo. I would recommended this place to anyone visiting Venice. First off, it is the only place we went to that gave free and plentiful ice-cold tap water. Secondly, the seafood was excellently prepared. Thirdly, we asked our server to split some dishes for us, and he actually served us individual dishes with smaller proportions instead of giving us a dish and two blank plates.

Above: What is that yellow food called?

  

But it was when we ordered the mixed seafood platter that we saw the real magic. Our 60-year old or so server (who I suspect is an owner) brought out all these cooked pieces of fish and two blank plates. He then proceeded to debone and split the fish between the two plates before serving it to us. Caiqian and I gave him some applause when he finally finished. 

Above: Sea food assortment.

Lastly, Spaghetti al Nero di Seppia (squid ink spaghetti)!

Above: Spaghetti al Nero di Seppia (Squid Ink Spaghetti)!  

Spaghetti al Nero di Seppia is a food on my bucket list that I hadn't been able to find until we went to Marco Polo's. And it was so much fun! Caiqian and I looked a bit monsterous after eating our portions.

Above: I am becoming an Ood (Doctor Who reference).

Above: My girlfriend's half zombie.

After our dinner Caiqian and I were exhausted from our day-long adventure in Venice. But we still had the energy to do one last trip by walking on Lido island beach at night.

Above: Lido Beach at Night.

It wasn't eventful like the rest of our day, but it was relaxing to walk along a beach at night time and feel the cold sand between my toes.

Overall Venice was a unique city that offers a lot of fun for people who don't mind getting lost in it. I have an eerie feeling it won't be my last time in Venice, unless it goes underwater due to sinking or global warming or any number of things.

Next we changed notes from chaotic, water-crossed Venice to hot, touristy Rome. Get ready for Vatican City, the Pantheon, and the Colosseum!