Adventures of a Wandering Thirtysomething

We arrived in Venice and with a couple hours to spare as the train strike thankfully began at 2 pm rather than the typical 9 am. Had we stuck to our original schedule, we would have been stopped on the tracks mid-route waiting up to 8 hours just outside of town for the service to resume. In spite of the chaos of avoiding a strike, Christina and I both arrived in Venice in good spirits, well rested from the Cinque Terre and ready to marvel in the fairytale that is Venice.

Our optimistic outlook quickly faded as we painfully came to realize what this famed city has become. We’ve heard from others who’ve gone before us to not spend too much time there and that it’s really expensive (experts estimate that by 2040 not a single original resident of Venice will remain as the prices drive more and more of the locals out each year leaving the city as a veritable Disneyland for adults), but nothing prepared us for what we saw. A city long past its glory days with many of the canal buildings struggling to keep up the façade, many veiled by scaffolding, Venice is at its core no more than a tourist trap. Streets are lined with stores full of cheap toys and souvenirs as well as fancy designers, none of which are ever frequented by a local. Restaurants charge lavish service fees for no service at all in a country that does not tip as a custom. Tonight we had one of the worst dining experiences of our lives as we paid $50 for a meal on par with a high school cafeteria. Christina joked saying if it was a dinner she cooked it would have been thrown out. I kid you not she has made better meals which I’ve gladly eaten and which she refused.

Amidst the disappointment there were a couple of redeeming qualities of Venice which will always make it worth visiting for anyone who has never been. We spent our evening touring the Frari Church, which houses a wood carving of John the Baptist by Donatello and a beautiful painting by Bellini, who invented using oil as a base for paint where previously egg yoke had been used. To stand just feet away from what was one of the first oil paintings ever in the world was an awe-inspiring moment. We finished our evening with a cruise down the grand canal for a view of Venice the way it was intended to be viewed. While graffiti, scaffolding and advertisements covered many buildings we could still see the faded twinkle of what was once the most wealthy and powerful city in Europe. Row after row of palaces and estates fit for only Europe’s finest.

Tomorrow we dive into the heart of Venice and spend time exploring the back alleys where already we’ve discovered the most beauty is to be found. Away from the crowds and the silly Americans who can’t help themselves from staring at things they’ll never afford and buying things they’ll never use.