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Transport
Took another beautiful train this morning from Firenze to Venezia. It ran about ten minutes late, which is pretty unusual, I think. However, we got to Venice just after noon. I did not realize that the water city is actually a series of islands, more or less. The last couple kilometers on the train was over a skinny land bridge. When we exited the train station, the Grand Canal was right in front of us. They really do have canals.
Hostel Search
The main street off to the left of the station had many hotels. On any given day, Venice has many more tourists than residents. However, evidently most of the tourists are rich, because we couldn't seem to find anything in our price range. Some people wait in for the tourist office, or make calls from their guidebook. We decided to just walk it out and hope for luck. After an hour or so, we had followed the Grand Canal almost its full distance. My bag was getting quite heavy, and we were hungry as well. We did see a lot of the city while walking around, but this is touring that I would rather do without a bag. After consulting the all-powerful Lets Go, we finally found Domus Civica, a religiously affiliated dorm with cheap, clean single rooms for over a hundred people. It turns out that it is only minutes from the train station, but we took the long way about.
More Touring
After getting rid of the baggage and washing off a bit we were ready for a real walk. We set off with only a crappy tourist map. It is impossible to really know your way around the twisted streets and over the innumerable bridges of this town. Luckily there are signs at many corners pointing the lost ones in the direction of the major tourist icons.
Ponte Rialto
Like Florence, Venice has its famous bridge lined with shops. The Rialto does have some gold shops, but it is mostly just crowded because of the nice view that it offers of the Grand Canal. There are only four bridges over the canal, and next to the one in front of the station, this is the most often used. We stopped for the obligatory photo, and that is when I ran into someone I know. Yes, an old acquaintance from the Badminton Club at my university in Tokyo. She had just finished spending a year at a school in the States and, like Midori and Yai, was making a bit of a tour of Europe before heading home to Japan. Small world. We walked together over to the San Marco Plaza. When we tried to get into the ornately decorated church there, Josh and I were turned down for wearing shorts. That was the end of our reunion.
Residents
We continued our stroll down the waterfront toward the quieter residential part of town. We ran into Will, a guy who was on the
Enjoy Rome and Enjoy Florence walking tours with us. Yes, there are many tourists. Unfortunately there are fewer and fewer Venetians who actually live out on the islands. Currently there is an aging population of shopkeepers and hotel managers who try to put up with the burden of living in a beautiful place. There is actually a Venetian dialect and proud history of a Venetian Empire of traders that bind the people together. There have been some wacky attempts to limit the number of tourists or even kick out the Italian government in favor of a new Venice. However, the city is still as it is.
Dinner in the Park
Some parts of the city are really lacking in the trademark canals filled with gondolas. There are some large tree-lined parks in the east which are on pretty solid ground. We bought some more tuna, bread, and tomatoes for a little picnic in the park. After dinner we
headed back toward the busy part town. I have to admit we got a little more than lost trying to find our way back to the hostel. With one hour left before the curfew, Josh and I decided to split up and make a game of it. If you can't find the place by 11:30pm, you sleep on the streets. Fortunately we both made it back.
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