Europe Trip Part 4 - Venice

Ok, I guess I should resume my trip posts, lest I myself forget all about it, without storing a hardcopy of my memories somewhere. Memories are sometimes volatile, though you can retain the important stuff, it is the sundry details, that add spice to life.

So I left off with the night of Christmas. It was almost 2:30AM by the time we slept, and we had to wake up at 6:30 in the morning. Needless to say we were still half asleep and drowsy as we boarded the motor coach to Venitzia. As usual I wanted to sit somewhere near the front, so I can listen to Luc better, and enjoy the drive. I love road trips. Stopping over for breaks at gas stations, grabbing munchies, taking a break and driving, is bliss, as I have probably told this many a times. I will not get tired of it I think.

We were driving through Italy, passing, through Firenze, aka Florence. I was feeling very sleepy. But I did not want to sleep. I mean, I am driving through Italy, and probably for the first and last time in my life, and how can I sleep! So this is how it is to live in Italy and go on a drive from Rome to Venice, I thought to myself. The road system as I said earlier was very much like the US. With gas stations every so many miles, I should say kilometers . If it is Shell in the US, it was AutoGrill is Europe. Luc gave us precise instructions on how to do a transaction at the AutoGrill. The Cassa which means I guess the Cash Register or something, were you order and pay the money and get the stuff later.
We were to reach Venice only at about 3 in the evening. Me and K slept for awhile, read some books, slept, listened to music among other things.

I love travelling with K. I like to sleep with my head on his shoulders, and his head over my head. It is a very nice feeling. He also pats me on my cheek and brushes my hair as I try to sleep. Bliss!

Luc gave us a queer story about some medical doctor giving some pills to him to give to all of us, which would keep us happy for the rest of the trip. I guess we were too sleepy to really analyze the statement, or challenge the prudeness of it all. He had this bag with him, and he started giving out the 'pills' from the rear of the bus. I should probably take this opportunity to introduce a very 'important' person in our tour. She was this female from New Jersey, with a particularly squeaky voice, and aloud, undiscontinued guffaw, with drove the bazookies out of you. Of course that day was the first time I heard her laugh, I was able to bear it for the first and last time.

So she was 'screaming' away as we all wondered what was wrong with her. When Luc came to us, it was our turn to laugh, in our own way, clutching our stomachs. So was a Nipple! The one you thrust into the baby's mouth when you want it to shut up! And it was a Candy instead of the rubbery thing that babies suck at.
And yes, suckers that we were, we took a picture of the two of us, suckling away.

Luc gave us intervals to sleep, and woke us up to tell us some interesting history about Venice, or about Italy.
First time I heard of Venice, was in our Read for Pleasure book in Std Five. The Merchant of Venice. It was a magical city. My only knowledge about the city was that it was the city of canals, and that they had water for roads, and boats ( had not yet heard of the term Gondola ) for transportation. We were waiting to see it all, as we neared the Main Land of Venice.

The history I found interesting. Apparently, the first settlers of Venitzia. thats what it called in Italian , were refugees, who hid in the islands from the Italians about 1600 years ago. They were poor people. Very poor. Then Venice rose as a trading floor, being the gateway between Europe/Rome and the Mediterranean Countried. It became rich.

The most interesting fact was that, the people of Venice, till date, try as much as possible to preserve the remnants of the old times. There are NO Holiday Inns or Hiltons on the islands. The city has still preserved its historic nature.

So finally, we passed the main bridge, with separated the main land from the Islands and reached Venice.
The city had an ethereal quality to it. It was the day of Christmas and the place was deserted. The city looked very old, and magical. Ok, I know I have told the same words many times, just for lack of words now.
We were to go on a Gondola Serenade, through the city, through the numerous canals, which were the very veins of the place. Me and K got to have the main seats, the Gondolas were, lets say, 'royal', with a Champagne to top it off. Of course, we didnt drink any in spite of K's pleadings.



We slowly floated into the silent 'streets' of the City. It was pretty silent, except for the man manevuering the Gondola, singing in a melodious voice, some Italian song, we could obviosly not make sense of. The water was green. The buildings were old. When I say old, I mean old. Apparently, Venice does not have twentieth century buildings at all . So all the buildings were atleast 200 years old. The buildings were dirty, obviously, with algae at the places were the water touched them.

People of Venice apparently dont live on the ground floor. They use the ground floor as a basement, or a storage place, and live from the floor above.



We went under small tiny bridges, which were like cross walks to cross the 'street' from above. We were amazed that the people used a cloth rope to dry their clothes!, like we used to do in India! All the windows were closed. It almost felt as if no one lived there. But the clothes hanging on the top of houses, between windows, still wet, were probably the only clue.

Then we came to the main 'road' from the 'streets', the Grand Canal. It was an amazing site. It was clearly an 'intersection'.



Each house by itself was not very beautiful, but when all of them together were seen at one glance, it was breathtaking. The water lapping at the foot of the houses, the paint peeling of the bottom of it, the uniform windows, the old colors, it was amazing.

We even saw a Vaporetti or a taxi Station, which is similar to our 'bus stand'.


After the Serenade, we were to walk along the many small tiny streets, with exotic and expensive shopping stores. Venice as such even if it looked very old, the interiors of the buildings were very 'rich'.
We walked towards St. Marcos Square, and towards the Church. We saw many many decorations for Chirstmas, and lot of 'directions' to go to St. Marcos. I mean, there were only like three or four main Squares in the whole city, how can one possibly get lost?!

Luc said, Venice was probably the most expensive place to shop, for anything, given the amount of tourists it attracts. Everything is doubly expensive, he said. Well, according to us, anything bought in Euros was expensive.

We went to San Marcos Square. The Square was amazing! More than the buildings itself, if was the lightings that was done, which was amazing. The Square had the Church in the front, with a Bell Tower to its right, and there were buildings all around the square, which were mostly shopping places. Each little window in the buildings around the squares had lights, and to look at it as a whole, was simply superb. We unfortunately could not capture it on our camera owing to the lights and darkness and our poor photography skills.

We went into the Church and stayed there for a few minutes, as we were going to come here again the next day.

We took a motor boat from there to go along the Grand Canal which divided the Island into almost two equal parts. The city was picturesque in the night, with the lights from the buildings playing tricks on the water from the streets. The Grand Canal is, I would say the most beautiful 'street' in the world.

Unfortunately I did not get to hear much of what Luc had to say about the different buildings along the Grand Canal, as he was in a different coach than we were. To understand his accent as such was difficult, but to understand what he said from his distorted voice from the speaker, I gave up.
There were many palaces along the Canal, with richly decorated interiors, of which we got a good view as we went along.

You can find a map of Venice here and it is not all that hard to identify the Grand Canal.

We reached our buses after the ride, and went to our Hotels. This was probably the smallest room we had had in our entire trip. I guess the economy of Venice itself is not too great.
Though the city is magical romantic ethereal and what not, I cant imagine people living in history. Seriously, the moment we left the mainland, it was like entering history, going a couple of hundred years back. I wonder how people still embrace old ways of living. To think I spent a day in this magical city with my dearest, I feel I have lived my life! ;)

We had an amazing Christmas Dinner at the hotel. The waiters were a little irritated at both of us, as we did not take beef or turkey or pork. Dinner were the times to get to know the rest of our tour members a little better. We were slowly getting to know people, making friends.

We got stamps from Luc, and posted the postcards of Rome at the hotel. And we settled in for a good nights sleep, before exploring Venice in day light again the next day, and before the long drive to our next stop, Lucerne.