Venice: Day 1
Venice is the culmination of all of my urban studies dreams and nightmares in a single city. Cars are banned in this city full of pedestrian-only streets and canals, and it’s considered to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world, for good reason. It’s actually fairly transit-dense with several canal boat lines. Yet it’s basically just a giant maze of concrete floating on water. There are barely any parks or plazas, and the streets are INSANE. I cannot emphasize that enough. It’s basically the urban equivalent of a siren, luring you in with its beauty and then trapping you on its island forever.
Venice’s population has been steadily declining since the 1950s with only 60,000 people remaining. I am convinced that these are the ones who just keep getting lost and cannot find their way out of the city. They even threw I funeral for the city in 2009 because of its population loss. I cannot make this stuff up. So basically, Venice is a city of tourists by tourists and for tourists. With its lack of cars, walkability, and gondola boats, it almost has an amusement park vibe. Except it’s not always fun.
My mom read that the best thing to do in Venice is just to walk around and get lost. This may not actually be the best thing, but it certainly is the inevitable thing. We got lost on the way to our hotel and again within two minutes of stepping out the door. We’re staying in this hotel/convent type thing that is entirely run by nuns. This means that there’s a midnight curfew, a giant crucifix hanging in the bedroom, and WiFi that is only accessible in one common room downstairs RIGHT by the nun office. I am convinced that they’re now browsing my blog, censoring my photos. When we checked in, I heard my mom mutter under her breath, “We should have just booked normal hotels in these places.” But then when I asked what she said, she replied, “Nothing.” But I heard all right.
Anyways, we spent essentially all of today getting lost repeatedly in Venice. I took a lot of pictures of things but don’t know what any of them are. We bought a map, but it somehow made things even more confusing. Seriously, look at these streets:
Google Maps said, “You’re on your own” when I asked for directions.
But regardless of its confusion, Venice wins my approval by looking like this:
We ended the evening cruising the canal on their water taxi/bus line, which seems like the only way to somewhat make sense of this crazy city. I’m scared to leave the nunnery tomorrow and venture back out into the dark crevices of Venice, but I have a feeling that it will be worth it.
