Sunday, January 16, 2011

Where Buses are Boats


After our short stint in Copenhagen, Paul and I could not wait to get down to Italy for some warm weather. In fact, because we couldn’t bear the cold any longer, we opted to skip a couple cities such as Prague or Zurich, which we had thought about making quick stops in, to get to Venice as fast as possible. This turned out to be bad choice. Of course my train through Hamburg, Germany was delayed again and this caused me to miss my Munich overnight train to Venice. Luckily, there was another one only two hours later (the last one) and the conductor let me take a coach seat. Now here comes the most amazing part of the story. Ok, so this train wasn’t just going to Venice, but also Budapest. What happens is, in Salzburg, the train splits and half goes to Venice and other to Budapest. Crazy, I know! Like almost every other train I’d been on, I had fallen asleep and when I woke up, we were in Salzburg. Never confident in my ability to make it to a place without asking an attendant if I’m right, I asked if I was on the side of the train heading to Venice. I wasn’t. Not even 10 minutes after I rushed my stuff into another cart the train start to take off. If I hadn’t woken up when I did, I would have ended up in Budapest. Now that’s lucky. 7 hours later Paul and I arrived in Venice. The second I walked out of the station I felt at home. It’s a hard feeling to explain. Maybe it was the considerably warmer weather or maybe it’s the fact that I’m Italian, but I just felt so relaxed and rejuvenated. After a quick breakfast Paul and I set off to find our hostel, A Venice Museum (that’s the name of the place, it wasn’t really a museum). Let’s just say it took longer than expected. I don’t know who came up with the layout of the streets within Venice, but whoever it was, is an idiot. Venice has to be the most confusing place I’ve ever been. To start, the roads are so small and narrow that there are no cars in Venice. Second, streets we would view as alleyways are main roads. And lastly, there is no pattern to the layout of streets between the station and the harbor. Best term for describing Venice would have to be labyrinth. Turns out we had passed the hostel multiple times. Anyways, when we arrived, we couldn’t check-in right away, so we left our bags and did what every tourist is told to do in Venice, get lost. It really is the best way to see Venice. Being such a small city, we covered most of it in a couple hours. We headed over to the Porte del Rialto for the amazing view of the main canal first. This main tourist attraction did not disappoint. One truly sees the beauty of Venice from this point. Now, I’m sure the fact that the weather was perfect helped a bit, but the way the sun brought out the different colors of the houses along the water is something I will never forget. The colors and canal aren’t the only charming aspects of Venice. Venice wouldn’t be Venice without gondolas! And no, Paul and I did not go on one. It probably would’ve been the most depressing gondola ride in a world. Plus, they’re usually for groups and couples. But we did stand on the bridges and watch them pass by. This creeping on couples continued all the way to the main square, San Marco. Surrounded by expensive jewelry stores and restaurants, Paul and I went straight for the cathedral. Surprisingly, this cathedral has to rank in the top 5 of cathedrals I’ve seen. From the outside it’s nothing special, but step inside and one is greeted by golden ceilings that when lit correctly, makes for quite the picture. After a couple more pictures around the plaza, we reached the harbor.
After walking it in length, basking in the sun, and marveling at the numerous islands scattered around the main port, we returned to the hostel. Oh I almost forgot! It was New Year’s Eve! Because of this, the hostel was having a special 10 euro 3 course Italian dinner for us instead of the free Italian dinner it usually prepares. Following this delicious meal that I’d been craving for a long time, the staff brought us out to the harbor for the New Year’s firework show on the water. It was no Boston fireworks display, but the fact that was standing in a boat docked in Venice was pretty cool. After the fireworks, a group of us plowed our way through the crowd of basically all of Venice, to San Marco square for a massive dance party, then a quick stop at a bar, and the ended the night with some left over New Year’s Eve food. The next day was less glamorous. However, despite the overcast skies, Paul and I made our way around Venice once more. Our goals for the day were to get to the top of the tower in San Marco for the view of Venice, take a boat over to one of the islands, and go to the Leonardo Da Vinci museum. The tower view was spectacular to say the least. Although visibility was low, we still got a great view of the orange rooftops and surrounding islands. The only flaw was our timing. We got to the top right at noon which meant the bells in the tower were ringing when we stepped out of the elevator. It was not what I needed after just waking up half an hour ago. Paul was loving it. When the torment was over and we revisited the harbor, the real challenge began. How do you get to the islands? Up until now when we wanted to get somewhere, we either walked or took the metro. Knowing that swimming was out of the question, we would have to use the bus. Only these buses were actually boats. Just like the buses in other countries, I bought a ticket and got on bus with a specific route until we arrived at the island of our choice, San Giorgio. I feel this system is something one can only find in Venice. The people use it like any other metro or bus system. It’s brilliant. Right, so why San Giorgio? Well, it was the closest and easiest to get to. I was supposed to go see the church and amphitheatre, but both were closed. So really I just walked around and took in the view of Venice. Rather disappointed, Paul and I ate our sorrows away with some pizza and gelato before heading to over to the Da Vinci museum. The museum was only 2 floors and didn’t really have anything truly historic, but it was fun and interesting. In addition to the room to room biography of Da Vinci’s life, each room was also filled with interactive models of his most famous inventions and paintings. If Paul could move his fingers, he’d give it a thumbs up. After a short nap back at the hostel we had dinner and then the staff brought us out to one of the coolest bars I’ve ever been in. It wasn’t anything flashy, huge, or charming. So what was so awesome about this place? Only that if you go to a college outside Italy you can write it on a piece of paper with a highlighter and hang it up in the bar! There was BC, BU, Holy Cross, UNH, UVM, Providence, UMaine, and even Assumption College among many more from around the US and Europe. However, what I didn’t see was Merrimack. Giddy as I handed him the first Merrimack card ever (so I think), I wanted him to put it next to the rest of the schools in our conference, but there was no space, so it ended up at the other end of the bar. Someday I’ll go back and see if it’s still there. I’m skeptical. After this I signed the Oxford card (I don’t care if I was there for only a term) and the night rolled on. As Paul and I had gotten accustomed to over the last few days, we ended up sleeping in till 12:30pm. In the need of food, we grabbed a quick slice of pizza at our special spot and took off to the side of Venice we had yet to walk. It was rather boring. However, on the way back, we stumbled upon one of my favorite corner stores in the world. It was like going back to the years when the Beatles ruled the music world. This guy had everything! We’re talking Beatles action figures, pins, shirts, key chains, posters, rare collector items such as the yellow submarine compass, and a replica (may have been the actual thing because it was encased in glass) John Lennon army jacket. All these collectables, mixed with other memorabilia from the Rolling Stones, the Who, Pink Floyd, etc. made my mouth drop. All I could think about is how my family, especially Uncle Jim, would love to see this. This amazement was followed by another slice of pizza before I started packing for Florence. And so came an end to our stay in Venice. It’s funny how long this post came out to be because most people don’t have too much to say about Venice besides the gondola rides. Maybe it was the food and weather, maybe it was the hostel and people, or maybe it was the fact that I didn’t go on a gondola ride and found other stuff to do, either way, I had a great time. And Paul agrees.

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