Venice -- first look

21Feb13

Venice, Italy.  What can I show or say about it that hasn’t been said or shown before? So rather than wax poetry about Venice, I’ll just explain how I ended up here this time.  It was a two-week trip, half Venice and half Paris.  Totally spur of the moment.  So indulgent I know, don’t hate . . . it’s just one of those things that I’m able to do for now.  I’d been to Venice once before, many years ago, on my first tour of Europe with a girlfriend.  So many places in the world to see and I really hadn’t thought about revisiting Venice since.  But all of this came together literally within a week.  In mid-January I was itching to go somewhere, and it dawned on me that it’s around Carnevale time in Venice, which I’d always wanted to experience.

Pardon me while I indulge in a bit of nostalgia here (hmm, I think I must be getting old, because who in their 20′s ever gets nostalgic !?).    So, back to my first trip to Europe, which was also my first trip ever outside the US, if you don’t count driving across the border to Toronto.  It was six to eight weeks of whirlwind backpacking adventure — you know, hostels, if it’s Tuesday, it must be Budapest etc.  I had my first real job waiting for me when I returned, so yay, that meant I could just charge the trip and actually be able to pay for it later !  I have very fond and clear memories of that trip, the good, the annoying, the amusing — like the Italian guys who started practicing their English really loudly on the train after they heard us talking to each other in English.  I can still remember my first view of Venice at 6am with the sun rising over the horizon, when our overnight train from Rome pulled in.

And while I fell in love with another city on this trip, Venice was the one place where my friend and I said we have to come back one day to experience Carnevale, as we were both completely taken by the intricate masks and colorful photos of people in costumes. Unbelievably enough, I still have all the posters of Venice Carnevale that I bought and managed to carry home unscathed after weeks of backpacking.  I’d thought about tossing these many times in recent years, because, even though I got them framed, they still look — well, high end dorm room-ish.  But I’m glad I hung on to them.  Anyway, years went by and we’d talk about re-visiting Venice now and then, but neither one of us ever made it back.  Until now.  My friend hasn’t made it back yet, many responsibilities and all, but I hope she does.

I said I wouldn’t wax trite poetry about Venice, but I guess I should have warned you that I was going to go slightly maudlin on you.  I could go on about many other things about my first travel experience, or like how some acquaintances recently were in such disbelief that I would be traveling by myself when I had someone, because, that’s so . . . unusual.  Which made me chuckle, and made me think of Cyndi Lauper’s album, She’s So Unusual.  80′s, but still so much awesomeness.  See, once I start free associating, it almost never ends, but I will stop now because I’ve gone on long enough.  Here’s a sampling of photos from my first few days in Venice.   I do have plenty of Carnevale people photos, but I’m still sorting and will post those next time.

Doesn’t look too much like Venice so far ?  OK, here’s a canal shot.  As an aside, I didn’t take many photos with gondolas, at least nothing worth showing.  But what’s really amusing to me was that I took a few obligatory photos of the blue gondolas in front of Piazza San Marco (you know how sometimes in the middle of doing photos you already know that it’s ehh, whatever) — and I realized when I came home that they’re pretty much identical to one I took on a film P&S years ago, and proudly hung up in my bedroom.  I googled “blue gondolas Venice” out of curiosity, and I’m like, hey, that looks like my photo . . . and that one too !  LOL

Love padlocks, or as they’re known in Paris – “les cadenas d’amour”.

Ciao — see you next time.

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Filed under: Travel, Venice   |  11 Comments
Tags: photography, travel, Venice