On the road again
Ok, so I have obviously procrastinated enough and will now get back to the travelling story.
When I last left you, I was in Venice, having just moved from guide recommended hostel (avoid at all costs) to a fantastic and cheaper hotel in the Venezian jewish ghetto, which in terms of ghettos was actually pretty nice! The hotel was just off one of the minor canals and within walking distance of just about everything.
Venice, quite apart from being absolutely glorious, is my kind of town. All the guides say you will get lost (definitive statement) and given I have a woeful sense of direction and get lost simply turning around, going to a city where it's guaranteed and expected that I'll get lost kind of appealed to me.
Being a tourist, especially in very touristy cities, is hard work, as you are invariably surrounded by other tourists. This is the irony. I don't like tourists, although love travelling. Tourists invariably, from my experiences, whinge about how things aren't the same as at home. Yes, that would be because you're in a different COUNTRY. Or they complain about the service, the food, the weather... for some people once their passport is stamped they seem to think they have a ticket to complain non stop.
And when you travel in peak season (as I was, due to not being released from my previous life in Australia by my former boss as 5 months notice wasn't nearly enough time to replace me... seriously, evolution takes less time...) So there I was, pretty much hating tourists, in a city where a native Venezian could not be found. I was surrounded by spring breakers. But given I am such a tolerant person I did not let this dissuade me.
All tourist offices will give you hundreds of brochures about things to do in whatever city/whatever country, and for the committed traveller I would suggest you use the ideas but then do it yourself. If you go on a walking tour/bus ride/canal ride etc you will only be travelling with tourists. This may be your cup of tea, in which case, good luck to you. However, if the thought of spending 3 hours treking around on a walking tour with spring breakers is as closely aligned to your idea of hell as it is to mine, buy comfortable walking shoes, get a map and figure it out.
There are a number of big ticket things that you really do need to see in Venice, and there are a number of things that should be avoided at all costs. Obviously you have to go to Saint Marks.
However, when you enter the church please be respectful of the place of worship and keep your shoulders covered and do not wear shorts/mini skirt. You also can't take in a bag/back pack, but a cloak room is provided near by to store stuff, so it's not a big deal. Get there early. The first day I went, by the time I'd had a few scenic detours, I got to the basilica about 11am and the line must have had 300 people in it. So, aim to arrive by 7.30, as the doors open at 9 from memory. The church is amazing, and take a bit of cash to go into the treasury.
The Ducal palace, just around the corner from St Marks is also a must see, and a full day with the audio guide. Entry to it also gives you entry to Musee Coree, which is a museum and art gallery near St Marks. You can climb the campinell at St Marks, which would give you a great view of the grand canal, St Marks and the Ducal Palace, but the line was huge and the thought of climbing 400 stairs in 35 degree heat wasn't appealing, so I passed. Photos are not permitted in the chapel, although no one seemed to take any notice of it. It is, however, still used as a place of worship, so I guess it's up to you to decide how rude you want to be.
The Peggy Guggenheim gallery is on the grand canal, and while small is well worth it for modern art. The building was her home in Venice, and so is not as Guggenheim-y in terms of architecture, but the rooms have been kept largely as they were when she lived in the house.
There are a number of pollocks, a few small klees, some pastels of her daughter prior to her death and a number of mobiles from that 3D installation artist who I want to say is Escher, but isn't. Something like Escher. As you can see my knowlegde of modern art is exceptional, to the point where when at the Gallery I actually joined a tour group while a young guide was explaining to his group about the mobile artist. Then we moved into the room with all the Pollocks and he started banging on about Pollock making the paint as much the art as the art... when I realised he was staring at me quite openly. It was only then that I realised that he was not a guide, per se, but an art teacher and I had joined his art class tour! Oh well.
The gallery of modern art wasn't really worth the effort. It was small, not a lot of interesting work, although it did have one of Rodin's Thinker copies, with the original being in Paris.
And the other thing to do is simply jump on a vaporetto and travel up and down the grand canal to see the buildings. I know it seems like a total cliche, but it's the essence of Venice. Over the footbridge near Ferrovia is a section of fairly touristy shops that sell murano glass wear and souveniers, and if you keep walking away from the footbridge you'll ultimately come to the fish markets where you can have the most sensational fish meal for half the price of the easier to find places. And from there you can miander your way through the smaller streets and footbridges down to the Rialto bridge (the only stone bridge in Venice, from memory) and wander through the obscenely overpriced touristy markets that open each night there.
One of the common criticisms of Venice is that everything is hideously expensive and that you can't sit down for coffee. To be fair, you can, but you do pay a lot more for it. Standing at the bar having coffee, apart from making you feel far more local, costs effectively nothing, where as sitting down and taking in the view will cost you about 3E per cup. As this was still cheaper than in Greece and the coffee was palatable, I occasionally defied my friends' advice of never sitting down!
Food in Venice, indeed in most of Italy, can be a bit hit and miss. I would suggest for the soon to travel, that tourist menus or menus that only appear in English, will most often not give you an authentic meal. While they appear to be good value, the food is often worse than bad. So as a rule I tried to go to places where I was forced to order in Italian (buy a phrase book with a menu decoder) as I knew that they weren't catering to tourists, so the meal would be far more authentic. I'd also suggest going to a small bar around one of the smaller canals when the sun is setting and asking for a glass of prosecco.
And to the tourists who buy the corn niblets to have pigeons eat from their palms, very simply, pigeons are rats with wings. Why on earth would a sane person deliberately allow a lice covered thing to crawl all over them? It gives me chills just thinking about it.
I was in Venice for 6 nights, and I felt that was long enough. While I probably didn't see everything I could have, after a week my mind and belly was full and so I set forth for frenzy in Firenze.
When I last left you, I was in Venice, having just moved from guide recommended hostel (avoid at all costs) to a fantastic and cheaper hotel in the Venezian jewish ghetto, which in terms of ghettos was actually pretty nice! The hotel was just off one of the minor canals and within walking distance of just about everything.
Venice, quite apart from being absolutely glorious, is my kind of town. All the guides say you will get lost (definitive statement) and given I have a woeful sense of direction and get lost simply turning around, going to a city where it's guaranteed and expected that I'll get lost kind of appealed to me.
Venice - grand canal
Being a tourist, especially in very touristy cities, is hard work, as you are invariably surrounded by other tourists. This is the irony. I don't like tourists, although love travelling. Tourists invariably, from my experiences, whinge about how things aren't the same as at home. Yes, that would be because you're in a different COUNTRY. Or they complain about the service, the food, the weather... for some people once their passport is stamped they seem to think they have a ticket to complain non stop.
And when you travel in peak season (as I was, due to not being released from my previous life in Australia by my former boss as 5 months notice wasn't nearly enough time to replace me... seriously, evolution takes less time...) So there I was, pretty much hating tourists, in a city where a native Venezian could not be found. I was surrounded by spring breakers. But given I am such a tolerant person I did not let this dissuade me.
All tourist offices will give you hundreds of brochures about things to do in whatever city/whatever country, and for the committed traveller I would suggest you use the ideas but then do it yourself. If you go on a walking tour/bus ride/canal ride etc you will only be travelling with tourists. This may be your cup of tea, in which case, good luck to you. However, if the thought of spending 3 hours treking around on a walking tour with spring breakers is as closely aligned to your idea of hell as it is to mine, buy comfortable walking shoes, get a map and figure it out.
There are a number of big ticket things that you really do need to see in Venice, and there are a number of things that should be avoided at all costs. Obviously you have to go to Saint Marks.
San Marco - note the people feeding the pigeons
However, when you enter the church please be respectful of the place of worship and keep your shoulders covered and do not wear shorts/mini skirt. You also can't take in a bag/back pack, but a cloak room is provided near by to store stuff, so it's not a big deal. Get there early. The first day I went, by the time I'd had a few scenic detours, I got to the basilica about 11am and the line must have had 300 people in it. So, aim to arrive by 7.30, as the doors open at 9 from memory. The church is amazing, and take a bit of cash to go into the treasury.
The Ducal palace, just around the corner from St Marks is also a must see, and a full day with the audio guide. Entry to it also gives you entry to Musee Coree, which is a museum and art gallery near St Marks. You can climb the campinell at St Marks, which would give you a great view of the grand canal, St Marks and the Ducal Palace, but the line was huge and the thought of climbing 400 stairs in 35 degree heat wasn't appealing, so I passed. Photos are not permitted in the chapel, although no one seemed to take any notice of it. It is, however, still used as a place of worship, so I guess it's up to you to decide how rude you want to be.
Santa Maria Nouvelle, Venice
The Peggy Guggenheim gallery is on the grand canal, and while small is well worth it for modern art. The building was her home in Venice, and so is not as Guggenheim-y in terms of architecture, but the rooms have been kept largely as they were when she lived in the house.
Guggenheim, garden sculpture
There are a number of pollocks, a few small klees, some pastels of her daughter prior to her death and a number of mobiles from that 3D installation artist who I want to say is Escher, but isn't. Something like Escher. As you can see my knowlegde of modern art is exceptional, to the point where when at the Gallery I actually joined a tour group while a young guide was explaining to his group about the mobile artist. Then we moved into the room with all the Pollocks and he started banging on about Pollock making the paint as much the art as the art... when I realised he was staring at me quite openly. It was only then that I realised that he was not a guide, per se, but an art teacher and I had joined his art class tour! Oh well.
The gallery of modern art wasn't really worth the effort. It was small, not a lot of interesting work, although it did have one of Rodin's Thinker copies, with the original being in Paris.
And the other thing to do is simply jump on a vaporetto and travel up and down the grand canal to see the buildings. I know it seems like a total cliche, but it's the essence of Venice. Over the footbridge near Ferrovia is a section of fairly touristy shops that sell murano glass wear and souveniers, and if you keep walking away from the footbridge you'll ultimately come to the fish markets where you can have the most sensational fish meal for half the price of the easier to find places. And from there you can miander your way through the smaller streets and footbridges down to the Rialto bridge (the only stone bridge in Venice, from memory) and wander through the obscenely overpriced touristy markets that open each night there.
One of the common criticisms of Venice is that everything is hideously expensive and that you can't sit down for coffee. To be fair, you can, but you do pay a lot more for it. Standing at the bar having coffee, apart from making you feel far more local, costs effectively nothing, where as sitting down and taking in the view will cost you about 3E per cup. As this was still cheaper than in Greece and the coffee was palatable, I occasionally defied my friends' advice of never sitting down!
Food in Venice, indeed in most of Italy, can be a bit hit and miss. I would suggest for the soon to travel, that tourist menus or menus that only appear in English, will most often not give you an authentic meal. While they appear to be good value, the food is often worse than bad. So as a rule I tried to go to places where I was forced to order in Italian (buy a phrase book with a menu decoder) as I knew that they weren't catering to tourists, so the meal would be far more authentic. I'd also suggest going to a small bar around one of the smaller canals when the sun is setting and asking for a glass of prosecco.
And to the tourists who buy the corn niblets to have pigeons eat from their palms, very simply, pigeons are rats with wings. Why on earth would a sane person deliberately allow a lice covered thing to crawl all over them? It gives me chills just thinking about it.
I was in Venice for 6 nights, and I felt that was long enough. While I probably didn't see everything I could have, after a week my mind and belly was full and so I set forth for frenzy in Firenze.
When you go to places like Venice and of course Switzerland, think of these as the heart of historical and in some cases todays financial speculation. The deification of gambling, usury and the organized crime like venality of "free enterprise". That is the history of Venice.
Real Crash
Yellow Brick Road