VENICE REVISITED


A quiet Back Canal


If you’ve been following you know that we were in Venice in June, but really only to catch the ferry to Greece, and we saw Venice from 100’ above the grand canal. Much less crowded than our experience today. Who really goes to Venice twice in one trip anyway?


First we woke up to temp’s in the low 30’s, and since we had driven right into Venice last time we decided we were going to do te same this time. That part worked great, except that by the time we got off the bike we were sweating profusely.


Vaporetta's Full - check line up
We had our Ipod and phone with us planning to take a leisurely vaporetta Line 1 to St Marks square and listen to the guided tour. Yeah right. 


We get to the ticket booth, a line-up like you wouldn’t believe had developed (see picture of Sandra standing near a que, and a ticket agent and customer are screaming at each other, all amplified for everyone to hear. 


“Can’t you read?” She questions, and the American customer replies “Yes, I can read but I don’t understand ‘cause it’s in Italian”, 


I’m pretty sure I heard her response to that, but it was under her breath.


 Honest these are the things people say!


Rialto Bridge

So Sandra says, looking at the line up, “let’s walk,” so I discard our Ipod plan and out comes the map. We actually do quite well walking to the Frari church and Rialto bridge when things get bogged down and there is literally a human traffic jam. 


At one point a girl next to me flicks her pony tail while I am lifting my arm to take a picture. The hair gets caught in the crux of my elbow, which is sweaty. I take the picture and turn only to begin pulling her hair. She did not understand how it happened and began to yell at me. I just turned away, “I don’t understand, I’m Canadian!” Fortunately it wasn’t amplified.


By the time we got to San Marco Square the place was nuts, so we walked around and checked and each of the sites had line-ups that would last the afternoon, and with the temp. at 34C with a humidex of 39C we decided our initial walk around plan was all we’d accomplish. 
St Mark's Basilica





Human Traffic Jam on Bridge

We visited the mask shops. Venice is known for it’s “Carnavale” similar to Mardi Gras just before Lent, and everyone wears masks. So it has become a real tourist item here. We purchased a small intricate one to display at Christmas with our other trip mementos. We can’t carry any more and we’ve shipped some stuff at great expense.
Masks


Don’t go to Venice in August, or when it’s 34C. It isn’t worth it. We were here in April with the kids in ‘91 and it was sunny, warm and we had San Marco sq. to ourselves.

Lovely Canals

Traffic on the Grand Canal

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