Day 21: Venice

Another lovely day in Venice :) Walked around in the Eastern sector of the city today (and the southern I guess), which is usually fairly tourist-free (well, apart from me today). It’s a fantastic way to experience Venice. Everything felt so real, and relaxed. Beauty around every corner. Saw a pretty nifty wild iguana too (I named him Mario the Iguana). 

Had dinner at a pretty cool place. The guy running it was really nice. I asked if he had oysters and he was all like “nah :( I’m getting them in tomorrow” so I was all like “aight. So whattaya think I should get?” and he was all like “Imma get you some fish”, and he made me this really awesome fish platter with some of the best raw swordfish I’ve ever had (and I really like swordfish). It came in locally that day and everything, along with the other stuff on the plate (tomatoes, other fish, more fish, octopus, polenta, purple potatoes). I also think I finished off a bottle of his prosecco… but wine is cheaper than water here, so whatever. It’s nice to just go to the local places. Speaking of local places, I went shopping at this pretty cool dress shirt place, and girl working there unbuttoned my shirt at a ridiculously fast pace. Apparently they’re quite handsy here. She was cute though, so it’s all good.

This is a fantastic place in the world… it’s truly an incredible city, but you can tell that the charm is slowly slipping away :( Picturing families and shopkeepers here 400 or 500 years ago is a crazy experience. To walk where they walked, to look at what they looked at, to be where they lived. If you want to visit Venice, I definitely think you should. Just remember that it’s not a theme park… people live here, and they’ve lived here for a long time. Talk to them, see what they do, see how they live and take a step in their shoes for a while. Go to Venice, respect the city, treat it well and enjoy your time. Don’t be a nub butt like some of the tourists here (I’m looking at you fat blue shirt guy with an ice cream).