Obviously, it's just me, as millions of tourists flock each year to the aging, water-soaked city built on pilings.
I've given this a bit of thought as it disappoints me that I don't like Venice. Really, it does. I've created a condensed version of my reasons:
1. Too, too, too many tourists.
2. The prices. Come on. . . you want 8.50 Euro for a small glass of soda?
3. The water. When I am there with Maddy, I am constantly afraid that she will fall into the water. Constantly.
4. The crap. To me it feels like one store of crap after another. Crap, crap, crap. Wednesday a local told me that much of the glass crap is from China. Don't get me started on the mask crap.
5. The food. More overpriced crap.
6. Unfriendly locals pushing all the crap. (Can you blame them? Really?)
7. Way too many tourists.
I know. I know. I know.
You are thinking that I haven't seen the "real Venice" -- the Venice of the locals, and, you are absolutely correct. . . .except for the time 2 years ago that a local couple guided us to a fantastic restaurant in their neighborhood for lunch. Even there, the other locals dining were suspect & not really friendly. I have not managed to find the cool places off the beaten path where the tourists don't frequent. I have a sneaking suspicion that I would not be welcome there anyhow. It's just a suspicion -- at least not welcome in the same way that I would be in other parts of the country.
I am not giving up on Venice, though. I hope to make it here soon.
5 comments:
LOL! I know exactly what you mean ... too many tourists, too expensive, smelly in the summer. But you have to admit it is an unique, beautiful city. I hadn't been in almost a year until we went in March, and I quite enjoyed myself. It helped that it was the least crowded I've ever seen it, and Lem was safely strapped into the backpack (I have the same fear of the water!).
I totally 'get' you. I had no real desire to go then we went for 3 nights (too long) but without the kids, so that was nice. We only had one real moment that was nice. We sat outside at a bar that actually was locals. I was surprised (really I was, I didn't think anyone really lived there!) but everyone greeted eachother and kisses all around. The owner was really very nice and brought us an amazing cheese and meat tray that he spent probably 15 minutes going over the attributes of each item. Then we weighed our wine options and he was really pretty good (wine was less than 3-4 euro a glass!). And then at the end he brought us a free glass of liquor. Really I was so surprised by it all.
But my 12 euro hairclip flipping broke before I crossed the next bridge. I glued it back together once home and then it slipped out again and shattered when it hit the ground ;) Serves me right! A glass hairclip?!
I mentioned my dislike today to an Italian friend, who, as it turns out, studied in the university there for 4 years. Ironically, she was not offended by my statements & did not vehemently defend the great city; however, she did offer to take me there sometime to show me other parts. I got the impression that she agreed with me. . . though I don't think she could quite admit it. We'll see.
She told me a story of a famous mask maker who created a couple of special large masks for a particular Carnevale season: soft shit and hard shit -- to represent the mounds of crap that I wrote previously about. It reminds of the satire often found in a New Orleans Mardi Gras. She reported that the masks of merde parading around the city were quite comical.
All true. But I love the city noneoftheless ... There are some places that are off the beaten track, and it's worth staying overnight, because all tourist are gone by 5pm!
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