The Epic Eurotrip--Chapter 15: The Sinking Islands (Italy--Venice)

We finished touring Vienna, stayed a night in Graz, and then drove all the way to Venice. It was a good day. Venice has been one of the cities I always wanted to visit, along with Florence, Rome, Paris, and Barcelona. I didn't get to go to Barcelona this time, but at least I hit 3 of the 4, not bad.

Venice, like Amsterdam, is divided into many islands by canals. There's a big one going across the land, cutting the island into 2 main areas. This one is called Grand Canal, the biggest in Venice. Venetian people used to travel using gondolas. Almost every family had a gondola back in the time, but now there are only about 400 of them, mainly for tourism use.

Back then, Venice is known for hand-craft glass and masks (well, they are still well known, but they are now mainly bought by tourists only.) Since these are hand-crafted, they are really expensive. A small piece of glass key chain I saw cost about 30 euros. A bigger piece like a wine glass would cost over 120 euros. Some people would buy them, but I didn't have the money.

There were many high-class stores/shops on the islands. Most of the name brand you can think of can be found here. I chilled in a Louis Vuitton store for a while for the AC while some of our group members shopped there. This place, like many of the major cities in Europe, is very commercialized. Although you still see many old buildings, most buildings are converted into modern stores/restaurants/hotels. It's kinda sad that you can no longer experience the ancientness of the place anymore.

There were many of these huge cruises in Venice. 3000 people on each one,
and there are at least 10. $$ keeps coming.

Houses in Venice, viewed from a boat on the way to St. Marco's Square.

Probably the most famous scene in Venice.

Another one.

We stayed at the St. Marco region (check map) and spent majority of time walking around. It was fun seeing those local stuff (however commercialized)

One thing I want to talk about is the fee for using bathroom. In Europe, they charge you "tips" for using bathroom, almost everywhere (especially at tourist attractions.) Most of the places charge you 50 cents. It can be cheaper if you're a guy. Some places, though, charge way more because they KNOW you have to go at least once. Venice is such a place. The public bathroom charges you 1.25 euros per use. You might ask: "if it's just tip, why do you say they 'charge' you?" because they really do. Some bathrooms, including this one, are gated, and you have to put coins in to move the gate. It's one of those gates they use at amusement parks or basketball arenas ( I hope you know what I'm talking about. I don't really know the name of that thing.) They make so much money every day just by opening a public bathroom in a popular place. At a glance, I saw at least 30 people waiting in line. Assuming they can 1000 (there are probably more people) people to use it, that's 1250 euros, tax free (since it's "tip") Each month, they can make 1250*30=37,500 euros. That's above average salary in Italy, I'm sure. So if you ever buy some land in a popular tourist attraction, build a public bathroom. You'll make money for sure.

St. Marco's, with the Campanile.

There are several problems this place is facing. First is that this island is sinking. Some people don't believe this, but studies show that it's true. If it's just sinking, the water level wouldn't rise this fast, but due to global warming and the melt of iceberg, the water level rises even faster, causing the island to go lower 8 inches in every century. Not a lot? Well, in several hundred years, most of this island will be gone under water.

Second problem is that, no matter how advance the transportation is, this island is still remote. Especially back then when transportation was even worse, many people don't want to live on this island because of lack of opportunity of work. Yes, hand-craft glass/masks are working opportunity, but they also take a long time to learn, not even mastering. Many young people chose to leave the island and go to the continent, causing a loss of population.

Third problem is related to the second. Since young people don't want to learn the artistry of blowing glass and crafting masks, the technique starts to disappear in time. Now people actually need to try to preserve this type of skills.

The conclusion? Go to Venice when you can. Who knows? Maybe a giant storm or whatever will knock it out of the map completely. In the future, you might only see it in Vegas or Macau......

The Bridge of Sighs, connecting to Doge's Palace' 1F
(2nd floor) which used to be a jail. The other side used to
be where they execute prisoners.

A canal of many on this island.

The two pillars in front of San Marco's Square. One has St. Mark (the flying Lion)
on top while the other has St. Theodore of Amasea. This place used to be
where they chop off people's head. Thus standing in between is said
to bring bad luck.

St. Marco's Basilica.

Enough negative things. Let's talk about this place. St. Marco's Basilica is located at the square. If you look closely, there are several "paintings" on the walls of the place. The truth is, these are not paintings. These are mosaic. It's pretty incredible how people actually used these small pieces of glass to form the pictures. There are four horses on top of the building. These are replica, but the original ones are stored in the church (which you have to pay to see.) When Napoleon conquered this place, he took these 4 horses as trophies and set them up at Arch of Triumph in Paris. These are later returned to Italy when Napoleon died.

Coffee at these restaurants can cost up to 8 euros, thanks to
service fee, music fee, seating fee, table fee, and whatever else is applied.

Doge's Palace.

Okay, time to talk about gondola rides. We didn't schedule one with musicians as it 's really expensive. 5 of us got on one gondola, and there was traffic......

Gondola port.

Our gondolier

Me derping.

Traffic

Still, the ride was pleasant. We got to see the good views from the water. Going through the little tunnels did give me the feeling that I was in the old Venice where pollution and technology haven't hit this place. I also saw an interesting thing. Most of the ground floor entrances are blocked with rock and wood due to flooding. They have stairs leading up to first floor (again, it's second floor in US. First floor is called ground floor there.) There were water taxi and water buses running around (boats with motor engines.) Too bad we don't have things like that here. It'd be fun riding them. These canals, like the ones in Amsterdam, all have names so people can know where they are, and taxi drivers can know which canal to take. People need addresses here, too, you know?

View of Grand Canal.

And another. Gondolas on left, water taxi on right.

Here was when we got lucky. Remember I said the musicians were expensive to hire? Well, this gondola behind us hired a pair, so we enjoyed music for FREE!!!!!!

Musicians. They were amazing.

Masks, so many masks.

Assassin's Creed fans, remember this?

Something really concerned me was this:

You can see this place was flooding. It was a sunny day in early May. According to the tour guide, this NEVER happened before. I doubt this is completely true, but it gave me an idea how rarely this happens. But it did. The water came up from the sewer in front of my eyes. It was cool as well as frightening. I really hope this island can stay afloat. Sinking just sounds bad......

I'm too lazy to type more, so this will do for Venice. There were actually more actions, but I don't think that they will interest you guys, so yea.

Next stop: Florence, Italy (Leonardo de Vinci's home, Dante's home, Michelangelo's home, and, most importantly, EZIO AUDITORE'S HOME!!!!!!)