The Feast for the Senses: Venice

Thursday night it was difficult to sleep.

It felt like Christmas Eve and all I could do was sit up and wait for Santa to arrive and deliver me an amazing gift. Venice.

I've never been, all I knew was what I had seen in romantic movies and read in historic novels. It is supposed to be one of the most amazing cities in Europe and the world. No streets but canals, pigeons, architecture, gelato, gondolas, singing men in striped shirts. I was ready for all of it.
But the week before departure I was a bit nervous about going because of news stories like this one. Venice was under water. A lot of water. The storms we had here in Rab were just as bad over there and people were swimming their way through San Marco's Square. I didn't care though. Venice was calling and come hell or (literally) high water I was going to go.

Friday morning I met the Catamaran along with a lot of people in the program. It was our first and only three day free weekend and everyone was taking as much advantage of it as possible A whole van full of people left Thursday night to go to Ljubljana (pronounced Loobliana) the capital of Slovenia, three on the Catamaran were renting a car and heading to Serejevo in Bosnia, an ambitious nine hour drive away.  Two were on their way to Trieste, just inside Italy.

Once in Rijeka I had some in-between travel time and spent an hour looking around downtown Rijeka, the outdoor market was on and bustling. Veggies and fruits, sweet and spicy smells, it was a very nice way to start the day.

My travel partner and I rented a car as the fastest way to get there and soon we were zooming through Croatia, then into the EU in Slovenia, and not long after that into Italy. The scenery was beautiful, Slovenia had more of my beloved forests and mountains but by the time we were into Italy it was mostly flat farm land outside of Venice.

The hotel was in Mestre, it was cheaper to stay, had free parking and is also less than a 15 minute train ride from Venice. My hotel room for some reason had four beds, two singles and two more singles pushed together to create a double bed. Besides the overkill on sleeping spaces the bathroom had a tub! A real, beautiful deep bathtub, already I was in love with Italy.

It was almost dark by the time we hopped onto a train to Venice; the cool afternoon turned into a clear cold night very quickly and when we came out of the train station Venice was lit up, sparkling, not under water, and ever so inviting.

We walked through the open square and across Grand Canal on the first bridge. And after that got immediately lost. Venice is all twisting tiny pedestrian streets, odd angles, courtyards, plazas and canals that force you to pick a direction. And that is awesome. Not so great if you are actually trying to get somewhere but for a night of truly wonderful wandering, Venice is the place to do it. Around every corner is some perfect new detail, a paving pattern, a tree, a set of windows or a color of yellow on a building you've never seen before. Every detail is thought out and elegantly put together. Even in parts where walls are crumbling into the canals they do it artistically. It seems like ugliness simply isn't allowed, someone could try to make a gross splatter on the wall and it would turn into the Mona Lisa. Even the graffiti was lovely.

We made it our goal to get to San Marco's Square, the biggest in Venice. It took a long time, a lot of walking, getting lost, going back a new way, getting lost there, stopping for pictures etc. Slowly we made our way in the general direction of the square and under one more lovely columned walk we emerged into San Marco's. 

By then it was after ten and there weren't very many people, but a few such as ourselves strolled through the square to the water, the basilica and back. We followed our ears to a very fancy cafe with a very fancy piano and violin duet playing very romantic songs and there we sat and drank very expensive hot chocolates that were very amazing. I sat in the cool night and warm light from lamps listening to a perfect rendition of "The Girl from Ipanema", from a violinist who was a performance all by himself. Drinking a steaming cup of what tasted like a melted chocolate bar with cream. Every sense was engaged and lulled by the best of everything all at once.

the 10 euro cocoa

That feeling only got stronger the next day. Venice feels different between in the light and dark. During the day it vibrates with energy and people. The details we discovered the night before on buildings as little secrets now became shining bold statements. With more people out the canals were alive with taxis, little personal boats and yes, gondolas ferrying people willing to pay the 50 euro fee around in style. 

By way of getting lost we found the more residential end of Venice. The place where I think people actually live. We watched a woman open the gates to her garden right on a canal and use a crank to back her boat from the garden into the canal, then lock the gates and drive away. Just like parallel parking a car - Venetian style. At that end it was less about grandeur, less over the top and more subtly amazing.

The day was spent wandering, ducking into cafes, snacking, drinking coffee, walking some more, sketching, eating more, walking more etc. In other words, exactly what I wanted to do.

I enjoyed the people watching in particular. There were of course, a ton of tourists, and a ton of people catering to tourists. But the interactions were bigger and louder and somehow much more fun than I'm used to. There was also a lot of PDA (public displays of affection) which I have never minded. I like being reminded that there are happy people in love all over the world.

I also very much enjoyed the mix of languages, everything from German, to Japanese, English, Dutch, Spanish and Italian in a variety of accents all mixed together in this throng of humanity moving through the city. Especially in places like San Marco's where huge numbers of people congregate (two wedding parties arrived while we were there) there is a low hum of all the conversation happening at once.

Towards the end of the afternoon we went to the Biennale Architecture Exhibition. A lot of countries from all over the world each choose an architecture group to build an exhibit based on a theme. This year the theme was "Common Ground" and the exhibits were really something to see. Some made complete sense and were full of very useful information, some were inspiring and moving, and others were just odd (ahem, Spain). 

Taiwan: cardboard and plastic.

My favorite was Finland, with a bunch of small, interactive simple pieces, that I of course forgot to take pictures of because I was enjoying them so much.

Russia's exhibit. Querty keys and Ipads.

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Venice is, among many other things, exhausting. Trying to fit everything into two days is impossible, unfortunately, but it's not like I didn't try. By the evening I was sore, tired and hungry for a big meal. As much as I wanted to stay in Venice until the very last second I had to rest and recoup for awhile. A nap for a few hours back in Mestre was just what was needed but upon awakening food was imperative. 

Everyone at the hotel told us to go to a nearby restaurant called  "Bepi." In the window there was a case full of fresh fish on ice and the dining room smelled like cooking fish. Upon sitting down a very big, loud man with a gigantic mustache came over, speaking first in Italian, then switching seamlessly to Spanish to talk to my friend. After their conversation he looked down at me over his reading glasses attached with a chain and said-

"And I'm guessing you would like English." In a mildly patronizing way. 

Yes. I, the white girl with the confused expression trying to translate as fast as possible, but really not following this interaction... would like English. He was teasing, and hilarious and once again fabulously over the top. He told us all about his travels in the Americas and the languages he speaks, how he learned them and why. Then told us roughly what food and wine we wanted and disappeared to the kitchen.

 The food he brought was spectacular. What I had come to expect from Italy. I was presented with a seafood pasta with perfect al dente noodles and fresh mussels, clams, squid and a few other delights and a smooth red wine. And when neither of us could possibly eat anymore he brought a huge platter at least two feet long with five different kinds of fish. I looked at it and almost cried I was so full and it looked so good.

 But slowly, to keep from exploding we ate pieces of the fresh fish grilled to perfection. The meal was long, and we didn't waste a minute. After a final coffee we strolled out at midnight.

The next day I reluctantly said goodbye to Italy. And we left in the morning in order to catch the Catamaran back to Rab in the afternoon. I didn't want to go, wasn't ready at all. I hadn't seen enough, heard enough, smelled, touched or tasted nearly enough of Italy to consider myself ready to leave. I loved how friendly the people were and wanted to get to know them.  I'm not done with Italy.

So where the heck is Caitlin now? Dreaming of gelato and coffee in a not so far away place, canals and bridges and San Marco's in the moonlight. Buonanotte, amico mio.