 |
[Woke up early, finished packing, and drove over to my parents place. Then we all left for IAD where we caught our 5pm flight to Ireland. Our second leg left ireland at 6am (2am american time), and I finally fell asleep for the flight to Italy. Two hours later I awoke on the descent towards Venice. It's amazing. Tons of canals across the entire region, artificial lagoons for aquaculture everywhere on the shores of the Adriatic, and the cityscape of Venice in the distance. There's adventures coming, diving into the unknown, and it's invigorating. We finally arrived in Venice around noon, local time. We proceeded through a perfunctory customs and immigration checkpoint, and started following the signs for water taxis. |
Found the water taxis, dad gave a random dude (on our dock tbf) the ticket he printed off the internet, and said dude walked away with it. But he came back with his mate, who escorts us into his? boat.
This is chaos. Boats everywhere, almost hitting each other, all the wakes reflect and compound off the jetties to bounce us hard, not quite thailand chaos but same genre.
Once we make it out of the channel it's pretty awesome. Flying past lane markers across the bay to Venice, boats passing us, passing other boats, an ancient city approaching from the distance. The plane -> boat transfer is awesome and a clear delineation that "you're not in Kansas anymore". [If you ever go to Venice, take a boat to the city the first time. If you have to get off a Venice-bound train in Marghera before the bridge, do it. Anything less is a disservice to yourself]
After a few minutes, we're all [I'm good at persuading people to do dumb shit] sitting on the headrests looking over the boat, hanging out being cool. It's very cool.
Hit Venice itself, slow down, enter a canal proper. It's like straddling 1000 years. Gondolas everywhere. Old buildings, docks, landings, boat garages, bridges hundreds of years old, all while you ride in motorboat and take a pic on your phone. Pilot has us duck down for a bridge or two (Ethan and dad reached out to touch it. Why not? I do).
Boat honks violently. Enter the main canal. Main canal is massive. Rookie year at Battlebots is a life consuming monstrosity [I left for a two-week Italy trip only 3 weeks before filming bb, 1 week before ship date, after a 3 month build], so I haven't done any research. I didn't even know we were flying into Venice until this? morning. It's great.
Freshen up, change shoes, etc, head out to lunch. I try to get bank money but can't, so we wander around discussing food options until nobody has any preference anymore and stop at the first place we see. I order coke and pizza (del quattro formagio). It's surprisingly good. Definitely livens us all up.
Wander the city a lot. I honestly don't know what squares we saw, or what buildings.
Go to the fancy bridge that's an ancient market [rialto again]. Great views, lots of fun watching the chaos in the boats below and the people above, 5 minutes speculation over trash boat before it does the trick. Very similar to arc de triumph or bangkok riverboats.
Go to nextdoor mall that's an ancient market because it allegedly has roof access. Roof access is closed for a private event so we just wander into random luxury shops to look out their windows.
This is chaos. Boats everywhere, almost hitting each other, all the wakes reflect and compound off the jetties to bounce us hard, not quite thailand chaos but same genre.
Once we make it out of the channel it's pretty awesome. Flying past lane markers across the bay to Venice, boats passing us, passing other boats, an ancient city approaching from the distance. The plane -> boat transfer is awesome and a clear delineation that "you're not in Kansas anymore". [If you ever go to Venice, take a boat to the city the first time. If you have to get off a Venice-bound train in Marghera before the bridge, do it. Anything less is a disservice to yourself]
After a few minutes, we're all [I'm good at persuading people to do dumb shit] sitting on the headrests looking over the boat, hanging out being cool. It's very cool.
Hit Venice itself, slow down, enter a canal proper. It's like straddling 1000 years. Gondolas everywhere. Old buildings, docks, landings, boat garages, bridges hundreds of years old, all while you ride in motorboat and take a pic on your phone. Pilot has us duck down for a bridge or two (Ethan and dad reached out to touch it. Why not? I do).
| Right is the fancy shop bridge [Rialto]. We head left a mile up-canal and stop at a bus-boat landing dock and unload. Call the airbnb. Wait for airbnb while massive seagull investigates dead rat. Airbnb lady shows up, we walk to airbnb. It's on the 3rd floor off a random alley and filled with books. It's actually pretty great. |
Freshen up, change shoes, etc, head out to lunch. I try to get bank money but can't, so we wander around discussing food options until nobody has any preference anymore and stop at the first place we see. I order coke and pizza (del quattro formagio). It's surprisingly good. Definitely livens us all up.
Wander the city a lot. I honestly don't know what squares we saw, or what buildings.
Go to the fancy bridge that's an ancient market [rialto again]. Great views, lots of fun watching the chaos in the boats below and the people above, 5 minutes speculation over trash boat before it does the trick. Very similar to arc de triumph or bangkok riverboats.
Go to nextdoor mall that's an ancient market because it allegedly has roof access. Roof access is closed for a private event so we just wander into random luxury shops to look out their windows.
More wandering
Go to the supermarket. Younger generation buys wine, it's so cheap. I wait outside while they finish debating shopping and stick a doomba sticker to a pier.
Head home. Drink a glass of wine and unload groceries. Make a new plan: Some bridge and gelato. I honestly don't know which bridge. Between exiting the psychosis that is BB and sleeping 14 of the last 90 hours I'm just enjoying, not worrying about the details. It's fantastic. [End of initial journal entry]
[Second Entry begins]
Eat gelato at a monument for XXXXXXXXXXXXX. Contrary to my first thought, his name was not Naczio a Abrenzia. [Born in neighboring-region]
Walk to the new bridge. Delightful woodcarved bridge over the main canal with a sunset in the background and churchbells ringing. Doesn't really feel real.
Wander towards some square (san marco?), detour to see the bay, then head home. Lots of window shopping and people watching.
All in all it's awesome. It's kinda amazing being plunged into a new culture, language, transportation network, etc with no prep. Luckily my family has done lots of prep, but even so I always love that feeling. Looking forward to sleeping and then seeing a lot more when I can actually think.
Head home. Drink a glass of wine and unload groceries. Make a new plan: Some bridge and gelato. I honestly don't know which bridge. Between exiting the psychosis that is BB and sleeping 14 of the last 90 hours I'm just enjoying, not worrying about the details. It's fantastic. [End of initial journal entry]
[Second Entry begins]
Eat gelato at a monument for XXXXXXXXXXXXX. Contrary to my first thought, his name was not Naczio a Abrenzia. [Born in neighboring-region]
Walk to the new bridge. Delightful woodcarved bridge over the main canal with a sunset in the background and churchbells ringing. Doesn't really feel real.
Wander towards some square (san marco?), detour to see the bay, then head home. Lots of window shopping and people watching.
All in all it's awesome. It's kinda amazing being plunged into a new culture, language, transportation network, etc with no prep. Luckily my family has done lots of prep, but even so I always love that feeling. Looking forward to sleeping and then seeing a lot more when I can actually think.
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