Day 22 - Venezia/Venice

Frustration is running high. This internet cafe has international phones and the guy right behind me is yelling in a language I don't know. I bet the person on the other end of the call is liking it even less. And Flickr just lost three pictures I uploaded and I don't feel like rescaling them and trying again if it's just gonna crash again and I'm paying 8 euros per hour for this thing.

Took the afternoon train from Ljubljana yesterday, got to my hotel at 21:00 or so. This is the only time I had a hotel room reserved. 45 euros for a toilet and shower down the hall. No tv either.

Trieste's got nothing. *Here* is what a real Grand Canal is supposed to look like:



I spent the entire morning wandering town. This is a big city full of extremely narrow streets (foot traffic only). You can have a traffic jam for a hundred yards if there's one elderly person window shopping.

I have discovered that the best way to navigate is to pay attention to the sun and then stick to the "streets" that the locals use. Just keep going generally in the right direction... There are signs pointing to San Marco and such, but they often point both directions! It doesn't really matter. You'll get there in the end. Just watch out for those dead-ends onto the canals! When you see stairs, you know you found the bridge.

Many churches, none of which is as spectacular inside or out as expectations might be (after all the mosques and churches I've visited). Piazza San Marco didn't disappoint, however.



The cathedral demands to be photographed. Notice the lack of crowds or pigeons in the photograph. I got there early. No cameras were allowed inside, which made the whole thing seem kinda pointless for me to be there. Tons (literally, no doubt!) of gold mosaics on the dome ceilings and upper walls. When they turned off the spotlights, the mosaics turned brown.



50 cents for a short gondola ride, straight across the canal. Traghettos, they're called. They're always on the far side when you get there (if they're running -- one route closed at 14:00!), but it's either wait or try to find the way to the bridge.

I bought myself a Venentian city flag (the one on the right in the photo of S Marco -- gold lion on red) and a papier-mache carnivale mask (the real thing, not a cheap knock-off). They included shipping in the cost, so I hope to see it again! But no, they seemed respectable. More style in their masks than the other shops (even the other papier-mache shops, like the one that did the masks for _Eyes Wide Shut_ (mentioned in their window)). A lot of cheap masks on the kiosks.

Took a ride on the vaporetto up the Grand Canal back to my hotel. The vaporetto works like a subway, but they're boats. Crowded just like the rest of the city.

Maybe it's the narrow streets, but Venice feels much more crowded than Istanbul or Athens. Busy day, lots of walking. My feet hurt once more. But at least there are no clouds in the sky...