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“Tourists come from the world over to enjoy the art, culture and food. I came away from Venice awed by their sewer ... ” |
It was still raining when we reached Venice 5 hours later. I was starting to think I had done something to offend the Roman gods and thought we would be doomed to rain for the rest of the trip.
But by morning, the clouds had parted. We were staying at a campground that was on the mainland, but only a 20-minute boat ride from Venice. We took the boat to the city to see what it was all about.
We found that being in Venice means being lost. Which isn't a bad thing. I had no idea that the streets would be narrower than the hallway in my house, and that they go every which way. After just a few moments, every street and canal and bridge started to look the same, and street signs are a rare occurrence.
Maps are, of course, useless because they are written by 20-somethings who love to use a 0.5 font size. I did break down weeks ago and purchase my first set of reading glasses, but I haven't seen them since Munich. When I am king of the world, any thing less than 16 points will be a capital
Of course, under the right conditions, I love being lost. In Venice, the conditions were ideal. We spent the day looking for the 7th best gelato in Italy, according to our guidebook (I can't wait to try numbers 1 through 6). In the meantime, we took in all that Venice had to offer, including visiting the place where the bones of the Apostle Mark reportedly lie and feeding the pigeons in the piazza of San Marco Basilica.
Well, maybe not all that Venice had to offer. The closest we came to the canal ways was to take the inexpensive "water bus" down the Grande Canale. At $150 for an hour for a gondola ride, I was happy to take pictures of the little gondolas plying the waterways.
(I did remember my friend Al telling me he couldn't justify spending the money on a gondola on his visit to Venice, either. I also remember that after a few years of feeling guilty about it, he felt obliged to take his wife Rania to The Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. That is the risk that one must take.)
Still, the geek in me couldn't`t help but to formulate a business plan out of the chaos. After enjoying the company of Mrs. Happy in southern Germany, I figured that every tourist that steps off the boat would fall over themselves to rent a hand-held GPS unit with a database of Venice that would guide them wherever they wished.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but that isn't where the geek in me stopped, either. The street level of the major portions of the city can be a couple of inches under water depending on the tides. I would love to talk to the chief of the city's water department to learn how their sewer system works. I remember enough of fluid dynamics from school to know that their sewer system should back up and overflow twice daily at high tide. But it obviously doesn't. Simply fascinating.
So that sums up our experience of Venice. It was a beautiful city. Tourists come from the world over to enjoy the art, culture and food. The kids will remember the gelato and the pigeons. I think I am the only one who came away from Venice awed by their sewer system.
previous travel blog entry
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