Venice is Amsterdam meets Florence, with all the fun of the Dutch canals and all the beauty of the narrow italian streets. This combination also happens to create the greatest labrynthe known to man (forget the hedge masterpiece from the Shining, getting lost in Venice is the real Stephen King horror). However with a map, and some built up enthusiasm, Neil and I managed to find San Marco's Square quite easily. This took place after we had found the Residenza Santa Croce hostel quite easily as well. In fact it was these two (small) victories that led us to believe we knew what Venice was all about. I put the map away... it took us less then 15 minutes to hit our first dead end. The truth of the matter is, getting lost in the a-mazing streets of this floating city is alone worth a trip to italy (provided of course that it isn't dark out, and that you are only lost for a couple of minutes, it really doesn't take long for that gentle laugh, the one that screams embarasment with a touch of anxiety, to turn from "hey, look at us, we're lost in Venice, this is funny..." to "holy crap, weren't we just here 10 minutes ago, I swear we've seen that bridge before"). Travel Tip number 36: start your day in Venice with a little hide-and-go-seek game between you and yourself (oddly enough you never win, Venice seems to rig the game in its favor, and mess you right up). Now Neil and I only lost ourselves between the canals within the city a few times. At this point I will reveal a slight character flaw of mine (or an envious aspect of my personality depending on how you look at things): me and gadgets, we're like an old married couple. Like a true engineer, at the point just before panic, I pulled out the old digital compass on my "hey that does everything you could possibly think of" watch and before Neil could point and laugh, we were back on the map, and surrounded by flow of tourists.
After getting to know the cozy streets, we took to the canals with a Water Bus day pass. This is Italian public transit with out the rules of the road. These Water Buses are the biggest boats on the Grand Canal, and they know it. They crash in and out of the many stops along the canal, giving tourists a few seconds to climb on and get pushed off before they tare off and try to hunt down the Gondolas and cut off the taxies. At one point, after Neil and I had been thrown all over one of the buses, with quick stops and shot gun starts, and had decided that the Calgary LRT is a luxurious dream ride compared to water bus number one, a short yelp and frantic splashing confirmed the quality (or lack there of) of the driver. A girl half on, but definitely half off, took a plung into the cold green soup as the driver decided to snag a few extra seconds on his mid day route. This was enough to have Neil and I elbowing our way on and off at each dock, and giving a little fairy jump over the opening and closing gap. I loved it. I really dug the whole scene. We spent the whole day hoping these rigs like hobos on rail cars.
Part way through the day we visited Lido island. This resort part of Venice was completely different from the snakes-and-ladders paths of the main island. We wasted no time and were in the warm sea water, soaking up the italian sun, getting lost in part of the trip that had nothing to do with museums or queues or catching connecting trains. It was pure relaxation. Travel Tip number 2: Vacation is the key word, don't forget to keep up with the R&R sessions.
Venice was full of great picture spots. My favorite part of our stay was wandering the streets and seeing all that this desktop wallpaper hevan had to offer. I can't emphasis enough the importance of getting completely turned around and lost in this city. It is also imperative that you visit San Marco's square with Neil Webb; he has a strong dislike for Pigeons (hate isn't the right word, but it's the first word that comes to mind), and loves to yell at them and chase them around. This city is also full of great Carnivale Mask shops, and the people who own these shops really love the Mask business. Visit them, let them show you how excited a person can be about Masks.
I miss this city already. I can see why there have been so many James Bond boat chases down these canals. I wanted to orchestrate my own Italian Job, and find the Ocean's 12 crew, but alas we only had 3 days there...
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