Venice - City of canals, beggars and rude bastards

Well, as promised, I said I'd do a round-up once I managed to locate a free wi-fi connection. (I point blank refuse to pay €2.50 per 15 minutes of webtime, which seems to be the going extortionate rate in these parts.) This I have done. So, let's get started.

I must say, that as cities go, Venice is certainly unique - and not just because of the canals. The Italians have the tourist routine in the city down to a fine art - all the locals live out of town, on the mainland, while all the tourists live in the island parts. Our particular place of residence was the delightful, and also nearly unlocatable Hotel Castello, near St Mark's Square, from now on referred to as Piazza de la bird flu. I spent most of the first day sleeping, but ventured out briefly in the afternoon once my nap was completed. As it turned out it was a good thing I was sleeping - during my slumber my sister Anna, demanded some "alone time" and so headed off into the city. Anna is not the sharpest needle in the pile, and has a sense of direction best described as abysmal. As a result, she immediately got lost, and spent four hours roaming around Venice before my other sister and my mother managed to locate her. I unwittingly fulfilled the valuable role of staying at the hotel in case she came back, although whether she would have woken me by knocking is a different story.

Feeling refreshed, I took advantage of an early awakening the next morning to tramp the streets before it got too warm. I took a free water taxi (never, ever pay for a water taxi in Venice. They never check tickets.) to the Piazza Roma, and walked back in a rather roundabout route to our hotel, covering a fair chunk of the city.

This is the church of St Georgio, located across the way from the main part of Venice. I didn't actually get out to this one, but it is truly amazing to see these gigantic buildings appear as though they're almost floating on the water, like enormous concrete ships.


The Canal Grande. Think of this as like Venice's equivalent of Lutwyche Road - the main drag, the highway through the city. Needless to say, the Ities drive their boats here the same as they drive their cars on the mainland - without consideration, and without mercy.


This is one of the many canals that lead off the Canal Grande, that link up the city as a whole. Along with the standard fare of water taxis and gondolas, you also see private tinnies, boats loaded up to the gunnels with freight and speedboats.


A typical alleyway in Venice. This city is not for the claustrophobic.


The famous Bridge of Sighs - named because it led to the Venice jail, and prisoners would sigh in sadness as they were led away to serve their sentences. It's an amazing piece of architecture.


The church of St Michael. This is one of the largest churches in Venice, and like most, comes complete with a statue atop the Basilica.


This is the Church of the Madonna, which I went into, although not without difficulty. You would think that for a church that charges €2.50 entrance fee, they would have change for a five euro note. But nooooo. Lady behind the desk refused to accept a note. Had to be coins. So, I went off, bought a bottle of water, came back, handed over 2 Euro coins which she was perfectly happy with. I would have said my customary Jesus Christ and started abusing her to the heavens, but I was in the church dedicated to his mum. The Church is a little tricky to find - it's right over on the northern part of the island, well away from the tourist area (Rialto, St Mark's etc) but is well worth the walk. Anyone who goes to Venice should see this one, if only for the paintings - almost all of which are by the Italian artist Tintoretto. Some of them are massive - at least 10 metres high by 5 metres wide. The level of detail is of course exquisite, even to a cretin like me, who knows very little of art.


These are pretty much the smallest canals in Venice, and are used almost exclusively by gondolas. I considered a gondola ride, but figured I'd see more with my feet, and would save €50 and listening to Ole Sole Mio in the process.


St Mark's Square - note the obscene numbers of pigeons. I completely eschewed feeding the vermin, and no doubt saved myself from contracting any number of diseases as a result.


Pigeons flocking to the birdseed. This is also known as the "Gypsies when you drop a euro on the ground."


One of the oft-mentioned gypsies that both Glen and I have been heaping abuse on in the recent blogs. This one, like all the others I passed got sweet FA from my pockets.


I wasn't sure what this was, but it looks suspiciously like a bathplug. I think if you pull it out Venice runs dry.


Mute testimony that capitalism isn't what you'd call a pillar of strength in Italy.


And finally, some unsolicited advice for the Italians. Not that they need this particular piece of advice.

I must say, my first impressions of Italy have been mixed. On the positive side, I can see why some people fall in love with it. The cities are universally beautiful - there is a sense of majesty and unity in the buildings, and the backdrop of towering mountains and rolling green vales is truly magnificent. The lifestyle would be very enjoyable once you got used to it as well. But for me, the negatives outweigh the positives. The main thing that puts me off is the abrupt and sometimes downright rude nature of the majority of people we have met thus far. No doubt part of this is the fact that we are unashamedly foreigners to these parts - they seem far more jovial in the company of fellow Italians. We too don't have the best track record when dealing with foreigners, although I do recall Gus showing a few a good time.

Ultimately though, you'd need to be very persistent and thick-skinned to ingratiate yourself into the society here, which would be too offputting for the bulk of visitors here no doubt. Don't get me wrong though - I am enjoying, and will enjoy my time immensely here, but I couldn't stick it until April here, whereas in England I don't see it as a problem.