Ah Venice. The title to this blog is dedicated to one of the Italian contractors that work with Allin (my company) named Andrea. He is super funny despite the fact he doesnt speak a lick of English. He is in the white shirt below.
I started out my day at 6 am. I went for a nice jog around Mestre, which is where my hotel is, approximately 15 min away from the main city center. We had no power in the computer room and no power mean no connection, hence no work! Lucky me. I don’t get a day off so it was refreshing to leave and ge to explore, which is what I live for. I spent the afternoon in Venice, which proved to be a cute city, even with the hoards of people speaking all different languages, taking up space and breathing me oxygen, and dragging their luggage around being slow ( Why am I so impatient?). I would have liked to see more of the “real” Venice, where people are simply going about their day and having coffee on their balconies, but I only caught a glimpse.
Venice wasn’t necessarily disappointing, but it is nothing special, in my opinion. What draws tourist to the city is also its downfall. There were TOO many people and TOO many boats. One thing that would be cool to do is rent a kayak. I would have done this on my own, but after extensive research, I have found that because of the Italian bureaucracy and the booming gondola biz (it’s quite expensive. We are talking 80 Euro min for a ride), you can only purchase a kayaking tour for 120 Euros.
I have no idea what the nightlife is like, but there is plenty of shopping, pizza, and gelato to go around for daytime fun. Speaking of shopping, I couldn’t help myself – I bought a ring made of blown glass, which ones just one of many items made of that material. Among the usual postcards, t-shirts, and such, there were many interesting masks and pieces of art that were readily available.
I went into anything I could, but seeing as how it was Sunday, some of the attractions were closed –the Davincci Museum being one of them. I visited a few churches and one cathedral in particular just blew my mind. I went inside to admire the décor and architecture / contemplate my sins, so I sat down at a pew. I began trying to imagine what used to happen there , how different religion is today versus then, and how intricate the ceremonies used to be when all of the sudden I started crying. Why? I am not sure – something about that place made me overwhelmed so I had to make myself leave to compose myself. I have never experienced something like that and it weirded me out because I didn't know what was wrong with me.
I went for a little stroll in the park, got hit on hardcore by a gross man and quickly exited. The park was full of canoodeling couples, fat, content pigeons, and gypsies (By the way, all of the above annoys me - lovers stop the PDA. Pigeons stop crapping on humans. Gypsies, please stay away...you smell).
A few days ago we went to a bar/ restaurant called Coopers and drank a shuttle of beer. No lie . It is larger than a beer tower and the alcohol content is 9 percent. I did not have a good morning at the office the next day.
In the coming weeks I suspect I will be working my ass off and this was my one and only day off, so I will try to savor it. I am currrently drinking wine and going to downstairs to eat veal...later....
