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Post by questa on May 19, 2016 23:45:08 GMT
I am still surprised by how few people were around. It is almost eerie...did you see many children on your rambles? Considering the Lion has been the symbol of Venice for centuries, I am also surprised how so many different sculptors have made a hash of the jaws and mouth areas. Poor things look like they have left their dentures at home and their mouths have collapsed in.
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Post by bjd on May 20, 2016 7:21:56 GMT
Your pictures have made me want to go back to Venice and wander around, preferably early in the morning or in the evening when the light is the nicest.
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Post by bixaorellana on May 20, 2016 14:30:27 GMT
*sigh* What a wonderful, transporting experience you've made of this thread, Fumobici! In addition to the beauty and information imparted by the photographs, each and every one of them is exquisitely composed, making for a whole other level of enjoyment.
You are going to make me break my firm rule of avoiding cold, because now I'm even more determined to visit Venice and to go out of season. Of course, by next year enough people might have seen this thread that it will be wall to wall tourists. Let it be on your head!
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Post by questa on May 20, 2016 15:56:57 GMT
Aah...the double-edged sword of the traveller. I hear or read of a fabulous place which few other people know about. I go there to experience the history/ people/ scenery etc and the very act of my doing so starts to change the destination's character. The local people see an opportunity to increase their incomes by providing services for the traveller, even just selling bottled water or allowing access to a primitive toilet. As word gets around more travellers come and more locals come to depend on them for a living. Then the place becomes part of the tourist itinerary and the whole commercial scene increases until whatever drew me to the location in the first place has gone. However, the standard of living for the locals has probably increased, with a school and a health clinic available.
Then some clown decides to open a McDonald's there... Then I go looking for another fabulous place...
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Post by tod2 on May 20, 2016 16:18:11 GMT
Fumobici - I am enjoying every photo, every comment and this thread will definitely be a major influence on my proposed trip to Venice next year. Thank you so much.
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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2016 18:30:24 GMT
I have been admiring this report mostly in silence but with great appreciation. Frankly, everything looks quite like I expect (and I am the only person in my circle of friends to have never been to Venice although strangely enough I have been to Trieste), but that is a good point for me because that means that the city does not disappoint.
However, I think that gondolas look absolutely silly, not to mention being overpriced tourist trap gimmicks. Venice would do well to get rid of them except for the carnival, because even I will admit that they look magical when the passengers are in costume and wearing masks.
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Post by fumobici on May 20, 2016 19:45:24 GMT
I am still surprised by how few people were around. It is almost eerie...did you see many children on your rambles? There were children everywhere in the residential areas outside of school hours. I was actually surprised by their number as I had read that Venice had been hollowed out and depopulated of locals. If it's hollowed out of locals now, it must have really been crowded with them before because there seemed a very comfortable number of locals living in the old city to me, and real working class families too. Venice isn't a movie set or a theme park, it's a real city with real people living there and all that entails--including lots of children.
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Post by fumobici on May 20, 2016 19:51:55 GMT
Your pictures have made me want to go back to Venice and wander around, preferably early in the morning or in the evening when the light is the nicest. The low golden light in Venice is unforgettable. One small point I haven't made in this report is that Venice is the most beautiful city I have ever seen. Easily, even. Forget everything you've read or heard, it is on another level from any other city for its sheer aesthetic perfectness. Other places have little corners or areas that might compare, but Venice in its totality is sui generis. Add to that lovely diffuse, subtly golden light at an interesting angle...
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Post by fumobici on May 20, 2016 19:54:38 GMT
*sigh* What a wonderful, transporting experience you've made of this thread, Fumobici! In addition to the beauty and information imparted by the photographs, each and every one of them is exquisitely composed, making for a whole other level of enjoyment. You are going to make me break my firm rule of avoiding cold, because now I'm even more determined to visit Venice and to go out of season. Of course, by next year enough people might have seen this thread that it will be wall to wall tourists. Let it be on your head!
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Post by fumobici on May 20, 2016 20:04:14 GMT
The gondolas, K2, are what you say but they are also a real tradition in the city and believe it or not as I failed to take any photos of them, are actually an important part of the local transportation infrastructure. Upthread I was complaining about the lack of bridges spanning the grand canal, but what I failed to mention is that there are gondoliers at something like seven crossing points on the canal running what are called 'traghetti' which means 'ferries' or literally 'between neighborhoods'. These cross back and forth and the locals in particular make use of them to efficiently get around the city. The crossing is something like 50 cents for locals and 2 euro for tourists, but most of the riders appear to be locals. I didn't ride one as I was getting around fine on foot, but in retrospect I wish I had. The crossings are made with the passengers standing! Looks a little scary to be honest.
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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2016 21:04:46 GMT
I did not at all mean to imply that I thought 'boats' were ridiculous as transportation in Venice. Obviously they are necessary and/or desirable. I was just saying that 'gondola' design is somewhat ridiculous and outdated compared to modern possibilities, which, among other things, do not require the passengers to stand dangerously. Well designed craft with (preferably) electric motors could easily be used for transportation all around Venice. The lack of evolution in transportation might even be one of the reasons that the population has dropped by 50%. There are only so many 'colourful traditions' that people will put up with when they want to live in the 21st century.
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Post by htmb on May 20, 2016 23:48:12 GMT
Fumobici, your photos are really a spectacular treat. You make Venice look quite alive, while at the same time the walls appear to be decaying with age.
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Post by fumobici on May 21, 2016 1:55:23 GMT
Another thing I forgot to mention, because it's so obvious I suppose, is the lack of any cars. There is no other city that has no wheeled traffic. Even riding bicycles in Venice is forbidden although small children seem to be tolerated. If you've never been to Venice, you've never been in a city without cars, trucks, cycles etc. It's impossible I think to imagine because it's something we've never experienced before. After 9-11 the skies were empty for a few days or something and the silence became profound--once you noticed it which wasn't really that easy at first but the lack of wheeled vehicular sounds in Venice digs deep into you after a few days and it feels really good. Amazingly good. There is a profound serenity to walking without having to reckon with traffic. It seems like a small thing, but it grows the longer you stay.
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Post by tod2 on May 23, 2016 12:23:00 GMT
Fumo, I took my Venice guide book to the beach with me this weekend.....what are you doing to me?!!
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On the road Bill
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Post by On the road Bill on Sept 6, 2016 13:03:44 GMT
Thanks so much for your stunning photos of such an amazing city. I'm planning a trip to Italy next spring and after seeing your photos I'm worried about the weather. In your pix I see people all bundled up against cold and rain. I'll be part of a tour that visits Venice either around April 21-24 or April 30 to May 2 or 3. Do you think 10 days will make much of a difference in the weather? in cruise ship landings?
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Post by fumobici on Sept 6, 2016 15:55:52 GMT
The weather is a dice roll for a brief three day visit. The cruise ships begin in May, so I'd go with the earlier itinerary. In spite of what you may see in the photos here, the weather really was very pleasant except for one day. Of course I am fine with cooler weather--prefer it actually--and a few rain drops doesn't upset me in the least either.
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Post by lagatta on Sept 7, 2016 20:21:13 GMT
Well, fumobici, the cool rainy weather is like the climate of the Pacific Northwest. When I was there ... 25 or 30 years ago, the area near Arsenale had a lot of working-class families, stores selling plastic household goods - always in pretty colours and washing hanging of course, whenever it wasn't pissing rain. The couple of old Venetians I knew then, who not only remembered the war but were involved in antifascism in a minor key (they didn't "take to the hills" in a partisan brigade) are dead now, after long lives. There were many, many more stray cats then; no, they haven't been massacred, on the contrary humane associations have carried out spay, neuter and release programmes and rehomed adoptable kittens. venicetravelblog.com/2010/01/where-have-venices-cats-gone.htmleuropeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/cats_of_venice.htmQuesta, it is indeed strange that with so many felines around, those sculptors were so inaccurate as to the powerful jaws and dentition of lions. Housecats do have a somewhat different skull, but the powerful jaws and teeth seem to differ mostly in scale, depending upon whether their prey is usually rodents or much larger mammals (including humans, though we are not a prey of choice). I once housed a tiny feral kitten for a catlady I know, and her wee teeth broke my fingernail and I had four tiny puncture wounds. (Not doing that again!) While I'm glad that the feral cat problem has been solved without violence, I'm still happy to have visited Venice when there were cat everywhere, and kept drawing Venetian moggies with the wings of Saint Mark's Lion.
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Post by fumobici on Sept 8, 2016 1:18:36 GMT
Those stores in sestiero Castello with the cheap colorful stuff and the laundry on the lines spanning the narrow ways are still there. I wish I'd taken photos. Castello actually seems surprisingly untouched by tourism outside of the Biennale and the western part near San Marco. It's very much like visiting a typical neighborhood in any Italian city in that respect.
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Post by bixaorellana on May 29, 2021 4:48:59 GMT
I just slowly went through this thread again, pretty much in a state of rapture the whole time. Here on the last page I see that you wrote: The low golden light in Venice is unforgettable. One small point I haven't made in this report is that Venice is the most beautiful city I have ever seen. Easily, even. Forget everything you've read or heard, it is on another level from any other city for its sheer aesthetic perfectness. Other places have little corners or areas that might compare, but Venice in its totality is sui generis. Add to that lovely diffuse, subtly golden light at an interesting angle... That perfect summing up of Venice makes me so happy. Venice is so utterly gorgeous, it so surpasses expectation, that it seems indescribable. Well, you did describe it and that description, as much as the wonderful tour and photos, are whetting my ongoing desire to return there.
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Post by lugg on May 29, 2021 19:56:18 GMT
I missed this fantastic report until now . I have now got to re-think my view of Venice and consider another visit when life returns to normal. Looking back, I can now see my view of the city was affected by my state of mind at the time and I missed too much.
]Impressive equestrian statue in Campo S. Zanipolo, the guy was a famous soldier for hire I think [/i]
That fourth photo down is just wonderful, but really so many of them are.
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