VeniceMapMay, 2002 The presumption of ordinariness applies to every city. I would’ve never guessed that Venice is an island. There are lots of other islands around it, which exist solely to rip off tourists taking water taxis between them.  Mestre, a large industrial city, is next to Venice. That’s where all the people who work as Venetian gondoliers or shop assistants during the day live. You don’t get any postcards with a birds’ eye view of the city.  In actual fact there aren’t many canals there. When you ride along them you get the impression that’s all there is to the city: canals. But when you walk around its all on land, plus the occasional bridge. There aren’t any cars, obviously. The streets in the centre are very narrow. This is what the McDonald’s looks like:  The canals are equipped with traffic lights and road signs. Nonetheless, when approaching an intersection the gondolier bellows loud enough for the entire neighbourhood to hear in order to avoid colliding with a motorboat.  Apartment doorbells.  Flat rubbish bin — one of the best designs in the whole world.  The round one’s alright as well, but it didn’t make it into the world ranking.  Everything in the city is inordinately expensive. A three-star, bedbug-infested hotel room will cost as much as a spacious five-star one in Berlin. 20 minutes on a gondola costs 70 euros. And that was only because it was a cold day.  The gondolier uses his leg to push off the walls.  There are lots of pigeons in Saint Mark’s square. They’re of a special breed of some sort — they don’t crap everywhere. I would imagine that they’ve got some sort of arrangement with the ministry of tourism.  Venice is very beautiful, especially those courtyards where the tourists don’t venture. However, I don’t want to be buried there.  |
