Eurotrip stop 5: Venice

April 8, 2011

Our train arrived in a city called Marghera, on the Venice mainland. The city was pretty dingy and not the charming place I had imagined Venice to be. We walked to our hotel, which was much farther than we thought and required walking along a highway and under overpasses where, like the roads of Naples, trash and rotten vegetables were abundant. The sun was relentless and by the end of our trek, my shirt was a new, slightly darker shade of gray (TMI? probably). Our hotel was situated in a quiet, and dull, residential area. This time we were staying in a hotel because it was just as cheap as a hostel, though the low price was not so much a mystery once we got there. Our room was tiny, the shades didn't open, and for some inexplicable reason the shower head insisted on turning upwards - due to poor communication, each one of us learned this the hard way when we got in, turned the shower on, and screamed as the water viciously shot up and flooded the floor. The ceiling was undoubtedly clean, so that was one nice feature about the place. We turned on the television and sorted through our options - a Chinese soap opera, Chinese infomercials, a curling competition with German commentary, and the news (the only channel in English). Naturally, we chose to watch curling. Within minutes, Eric blew a fuse by plugging in a phone charger. Apparently, this was a usual occurrence at his particular hotel according to the woman at the front desk. When we inquired about where we could grab dinner, the woman told us there were two restaurants within several blocks and that everything closed at 7. We got dinner at one of our few options, and the meal was awesome. I got penne pasta with eggplant and tomatoes. The advantage to being in the middle of nowhere in Italy is that the food will probably be more authentic - and better. Like the woman at the desk said, there really was nothing open after 7. We went to the center of Marghera and found a single bar that was open. Ali and I got wine and Eric struggled to order a bottle of beer. The bartender and owner didn't speak any English, so Eric’s communication was reduced to pointing at things and eventually drawing a bottle of beer labeled “beera.” The Italian word for beer is actually “birra," and his artwork didn't quite capture the essence of a beer bottle, so this effort proved to be unsatisfactory.

This story has a happy ending though - he finally got his bottle of beer after borrowing someone else's beer to present to the bartender.

April 9, 2011

We got up that morning, had breakfast in the hotel, and took a bus to the island of Venice. When we got to the island, we crossed several bridges (at least 20) with our suitcases and finally arrived at the Sweet Dreams hostel. Through the doors, we entered a courtyard and looked up to find a man a few floors up greeting us. He instructed us to attach our bags to a pulley that he was lowering so he could pull them up.

The hostel was the best yet - free internet, a pool table, and a pretty spacious room to ourselves featuring a large reclining chair.

Weird fish display in the hostel.

The view outside our room's window.

We wandered around the island, exploring and taking pictures of canals.

Grand Canal

Ninja.

Venice was a very touristy and expensive place (most of the stores were souvenir shops and the restaurants had unreasonably high prices), but there is really no other place like it. I felt like I was in some sort of fantastical place.

Trying on one of the masks.

We got lunch, a deal with pizza and a coke for cheap.

In the afternoon, we walked along the Grand Canal to the tip of the Punta della Dogana, where we came upon an unusal sculpture of an oversized naked boy holding a frog. Eric was about to touch the sculpture when the guard who was intensely monitoring it abruptly freaked out and stared at us until we left.

Venetian crew?

We came upon one very strange shop along our walk. I couldn't tell what they were selling. Flamboyant jackets? Bearded mannequins? I will never know, but it was easily the creepiest store I had ever entered in my life.

After exploring Venice that day, we sat on a pier along the river to relax for a little while, read, and listen to music.

April 10, 2011

The next day we met up with our friend Alex. We walked around Venice some more, passing by a group of traditional Venetian dancers dancing in the street.

Alex and I were coerced to join in by a couple members of the group. I ungracefully stepped on my partner's feet several times.

We walked into the church of San Maurizio which had a cool exhibit of baroque string instruments.

As we walked around Venice, I noticed that the name "Zaccaria," similar to my last name, was everywhere - it was the name of a street, a church, and one of the water taxis. I felt honored.

In the afternoon, we started seeking out a gondola company. We came upon two guys dressed in black at the side of a bridge. They asked for 80 euros, but we bargained down to 60. I still wish our gondola man was wearing the traditional stripes, but I can't complain about the price.

The BMW of boats.

Traffic sign.

We had a very pleasant 30-40 minute ride around the canals, and I was able to check "gondola ride in Venice" off my bucket list - a very gratifying feeling.

That evening, we drank strawberry wine and sat outside on the same pier along the river listening to music.

April 11, 2011
In the morning, we went inside St. Mark's Basilica. The architecture and style of the cathedral was very different compared to other ones I've visited, and almost everything inside was painted gold.

We left for Milan in the middle of the day.