I see you shiver with antici.....pation

21 September

Everyone that gets to go to Venice, does so with great anticipation.

Leaving Mason Vicentino, we took the shortest route to the autostrada that did not involve Bassano del Grappa. And the drive to Venice was a quick one, with the only noteworthy thing being the vast amount of trucks you find along the way. Clearly a very lucrative business.

We were really sad to say goodbye to Picasso, the car that had been our home for the last 18 days. It was so very patient, taking us from the narrowest lanes to the highest passes to the most beautiful lakes. But there was also some form of relief, not having to be careful of entering where we should not, or navigate the narrow lanes that constitute Italy.

Getting to Venice was simple enough, but when you step off the water bus at Rialto bridge, as instructed by your guest house owner, you very quickly realise that Venice is the city of anticipation, confusion and map-consulting people. The city is packed to the rim with tourists. And they are all lost, fighting with each other over who knows best to get even more lost. And wherever you look, you see the look of absolute anticipation and total confusion on people’s faces. I should be having fun! I think this must be the right waterbus!  But am I going in the right direction? Do I look fashionable enough? Will they understand what I’m saying? It’s hilarious.

Needless to say – it took us a while to find our accommodation, but Niel, adamant to show me Venice, persisted. This, as always, often leaves me standing on some street corner with the luggage, something I’ve become quite accustomed to. I’ve learnt that if you stare down passersby, they seem too embarrassed to even consider forming an opinion about the fact that you look like an idiot with baggage on a street corner.

I would probably have to confess that my first impression of Venice was not positive. I don’t really do crowds well, so walking through narrow lanes, bumping into GGG’s (Gelato Gulping Germans), looking at one shop after another selling rather hideous glass objects (I was warned about this), just did not feel like the kind of place I could enjoy. So we did the one thing that would change that impression. Head for the water.

Taking the No. 2 line on the waterbus meant that we just about went around the entire island, passing San Marco, Rialto, and many other beautiful buildings and churches. I loved it. You see the real Venice on the various boats that go around doing things that people in real life do. A man fixing a window of his house, standing on his boat to do so. Some guys on a boat transposting a grand piano on its side. Guys taking building rubble away on a boat, or delivering gas bottles. Young kids having fun. Old men fishing.

By the time we decided to get onto dry land again, most of the tourists had gone to wherever they go when they don’t have accommodation in Venice. San Marco square was a great deal more pleasant, and some of the restaurants along its edges started attracting crowds with live string quartets or ensembles playing popular classical music. And even after supper, when we went back to San Marco, people were still cuddling to the beats of tangos, waltzes and polkas.

Once you figure out when to not be where in Venice, it starts becoming the charming place people anticipate it to be. I suspect not many people actually experience it, though.