Luce Dei Miei Occhi

I arrived to Venice somewhat heavy hearted after saying goodbye to Phillipe but knew I would regret not seeing more of Italy while I had the chance to if I had just stayed on in Florence.

Venice is a pretty complicated place to navigate. The streets and canals all lock into each other like a giant maze. I spent two hours looking for the street I thought my overpriced hotel was on. I finally found the street to realize my hotel was in a completely different city next to Venice with the same street name. Luckily a nice pizza man drew me a map and pointed me in the way of the bus station, a 30 minute walk away in the hot midday sun.

It is just as beautiful as one would imagine but it is also quite frustrating. The streets are labyrinths of canals and buildings, streets that go nowhere, piazzas where you need to back track to move forward. Heading to San Marco Basilica I had to follow all of these signs through this tangled web of concrete and water and I still got lost (and ask anyone who has traveled with me, I have a gifted sense of direction). I did find they have these cool water taxis that take you through the canals rather than meandering your way through the streets but even with these, all I wanted to do was relax somewhere with my feet up.

Venice is romantic but it is one of those cities designed for tourism so much so that it is almost impossible to separate real life from it. I wish I could have known it minus the hordes of people who come to visit it. Though Rome was a bit gritty, I could appreciate Roman daily life that much more because it seemed more authentic. I rode to work each morning with the city dwellers on the subway, shopped with them at the super market, ate with them at their homes. It felt like I were really living rather than merely passing through.