Impressions of Venice
Feb 9th, 2009, 01:10 PM
#61
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I am sad for you that your time is over and your writing has come to an end, but wish to thank you for taking the time to post this for us. It has deepened my feelings for Venice as I read it and will add this to my collection of guides.
Grazie mille.
Grazie mille.
Feb 9th, 2009, 03:11 PM
#62
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Peter, thank you for an absolutely marvelous read. I just caught up over the weekend and enjoyed tremendously you perusings.
Especially from an engineer's point of view. The grappa MSDS had me LOL.
Especially from an engineer's point of view. The grappa MSDS had me LOL.
Feb 10th, 2009, 08:22 PM
#63
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Ann / anhig,
The place you are thinking of that does no fish is called "La Bitta", on the left of Calle Lunga San Barnaba, walking away from the Grand Canal. It says on its business card,"No Fish", beautifully perverse as Venetian cuisine is all about fish.
Cheers
Peter (who is in Melbourne now and NOT HAPPY).
The place you are thinking of that does no fish is called "La Bitta", on the left of Calle Lunga San Barnaba, walking away from the Grand Canal. It says on its business card,"No Fish", beautifully perverse as Venetian cuisine is all about fish.
Cheers
Peter (who is in Melbourne now and NOT HAPPY).
Feb 11th, 2009, 03:23 PM
#64
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Anne, you asked which of us came up with the idea of an extended time. I think it was me first, after we visited Venice two years ago, and it was Lou who put a blow torch to my feet, pushing for a long time after I had suggested about five weeks. Doing a couple of horrible projects which were pretty hard work and involved weeks away from home (which I hate) gave me a little clout with my esteemed employer, and so we were able to push the time out to nine weeks.
If you are thinking about an extended stay in a city, then the agenda changes from “seeing the sights” (which would take a couple of weeks in Venice, although many would/will disagree with this) to seeing how a city works, and allowing one to become a temporary citizen. It allows relationships to develop, for locals to recognise you, for barmen to pour your drinks without asking what you want, for the staff at the supermarket to smile, for people to say “what, you’re still here?”
Once that starts to happen then the experience changes completely.
We take our holidays at the ends of the spectrum – Venice is at one end, and the other end is camping trips in the Australian bush, where we will set up camp and not see anyone for the entire period – we mostly spend ten days or so camping at Christmas. We’ve been known to do insane things, like driving from Melbourne to Ayers Rock to experience New Years Day, 2000 – a mere 2500 km each way. Even more insane was a two week P&O cruise, where we amused ourselves by telling “the truth not to ANYONE” – we just re-invented ourselves.
The attraction of the long stay in Venice is that it is so different to Melbourne. Sure, every city is different, but I think that there are more points of difference with Venice than with any Western city. The mere absence of traffic sees to that. One thing to consider is that you need a second agenda, a second driver, besides “seeing the sights”. For Lou, it was painting, for me it was writing and taking the odd photograph, and neither of us had had the unbroken stretch of time to indulge in these things before. We spent a handful of days without ever leaving the apartment – too wet, too cold, too lazy or whatever.
We’re planning the return to Venice in two years, probably for a four or five week visit rather than the nine weeks that we have just had. It won’t take so long to come up to speed next time, and we are committed to having more language.
If you are thinking about an extended stay in a city, then the agenda changes from “seeing the sights” (which would take a couple of weeks in Venice, although many would/will disagree with this) to seeing how a city works, and allowing one to become a temporary citizen. It allows relationships to develop, for locals to recognise you, for barmen to pour your drinks without asking what you want, for the staff at the supermarket to smile, for people to say “what, you’re still here?”
Once that starts to happen then the experience changes completely.
We take our holidays at the ends of the spectrum – Venice is at one end, and the other end is camping trips in the Australian bush, where we will set up camp and not see anyone for the entire period – we mostly spend ten days or so camping at Christmas. We’ve been known to do insane things, like driving from Melbourne to Ayers Rock to experience New Years Day, 2000 – a mere 2500 km each way. Even more insane was a two week P&O cruise, where we amused ourselves by telling “the truth not to ANYONE” – we just re-invented ourselves.
The attraction of the long stay in Venice is that it is so different to Melbourne. Sure, every city is different, but I think that there are more points of difference with Venice than with any Western city. The mere absence of traffic sees to that. One thing to consider is that you need a second agenda, a second driver, besides “seeing the sights”. For Lou, it was painting, for me it was writing and taking the odd photograph, and neither of us had had the unbroken stretch of time to indulge in these things before. We spent a handful of days without ever leaving the apartment – too wet, too cold, too lazy or whatever.
We’re planning the return to Venice in two years, probably for a four or five week visit rather than the nine weeks that we have just had. It won’t take so long to come up to speed next time, and we are committed to having more language.
Mar 9th, 2011, 04:14 PM
#66
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I sort of revised the trip report, with some extra words.
It's here:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...st-verbose.cfm
It's here:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...st-verbose.cfm
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