Random Pics and Reflections from Venice - Part 2

In this blog post I continue my random reflections (click here for part 1) - plus at the end I have my observations on ways in which Venice is and INS'T expensive... Now, to start this off, I have a place in Venice!! No, more like Venice has a place in my heart and there is some shop that starts with Roberta that I just had to snap...A little amore to the sound of the dueling orchestras in San Marco Square....

At the vaparetto stops, they have a little system to figure out which gondalier gets the next ride - simple but looks like it works pretty well...

The soft Venice light in the late day...

Gondala traffic jam!!!

Loved this guy taking a picture (of me!?!? lol) from his hotel mini-balcony. You can click on the pic to enlarge it if you need a closer look to spot him....

This is just wrong, wrong, wrong.... oh, and it was almost 30C!

Even laundry can be pretty in Venice...

Nice vista from one of the bridges on the Grand Canal....

I adore this picture of this little Italian lady watering her plants ;-)

Not all vaparetto guys are this cute, but they are all nice ';-)

Took a few pics of workmen on one of the canals, and this one just cracked me up somehow!

Purdy yellow building...

Serious photo chick...

Another seagull posing for me...

Away from the city centre, when I was rounding the island on a vaparetto, came across these marketing spoofs, kind of funny to see...

Also saw this big tall ship (yacht) moored....

Just the nice glint off the water....

Now, which vaparetto shall we take?

Loved these reflections of these kids at one of the vaparetto stops...

I like the old stone....

Found this goddess hiding in a park...

This was a little alarming from a distance, it looked like a barge had run aground, but it is a memorial to the folks who used to move containers on their boats....

Me getting artsy with my pics...

This is the memorial plaque...

Neat piece of public art... (click to enlarge for more details)...

People and a statue....

My hotel, just steps from San Marco Square...

The view from my hotel window...

Things you can't do in San Marco Square... really!

How to make your backpack happy on a vaparetto ride...

Place I had dinner my first night, I even got my feet splashed!!! More below in my notes on what is and isn't expensive in Venice. Hint: this was NOT expensive!

Liked these glass signpost things at the gondola places....

Just a nice feeling of the late afternoon sun from this... Gondaliers on their break.... really!

Loved the glint of sun on the metal thingee on the front of this gondola...

Waving to happy strangers and them waving back! Gondolas are often moored 2 or 3 deep; here's how they get across....

I honestly was preparing to take a pic of this pretty canal view, and was zooming in, when I spotted the gondalier taking a leak.. jeez...

They say Venice is expensive, but here are some observations on both sides of the coin:

• day 1: first snack in San Marco square included a Diet Coke that set me back 7E (!) and a sandwich also for 7E... at least my Diet Coke came in a glass bottle - and an awesome view


• this was after I not-so-sheepishly got up and left the adjacent restaurant when the white-tuxedo'd waiter was sure to point out the 6E music charge


• I was able to hear the band from my cafe with my 7E Diet Coke just fine, though no tuxedo :-)


• you might think you can bring a picnic to enjoy the square for cheap but, alas, it is forbidden to sit or eat in the square


• this rule was shamelessly broken by some, as i did myself, albeit discretely broke on my last night there, armed with a 3E sandwich from a place across from my hotel and a 2.50E little bottle of wine in my purse


• that bottle was the companion to another that I'd bought , also for 2.50, for my gondola ride the day before (no glass for me, felt oddly fun to sip it right from the bottle (ok, was more like glugging!)


• got the wine along with individually wrapped cheese wedges and Tuc crackers right across from my hotel, which was steps from San Marco, right in a main tourist area


• my "do it yourself" Murano glassmaking tour cost me a whole 5E, not including lunch; I used my vaparetto pass and found a walk-in demonstration at a little factory for 5E (I was prepared to spend much more than that) - when I got off my vaporetti there was a guy calling out directions to glassmaking demonstrations (I have written a whole separate blog entry just on this trip)


• lunch on my Murano was a fairly reasonable (for Venice) 21E for a whole pizza and two beers - the ambience of Murano was free


• my first evening I had an amazingly cheap dinner by Rialto bridge right on the Grand Canal I was close enough to the water to get my toes splashed once); my pasta (a tasty penne pest) was 8E and ny 1/4 litre of wine was something like 3.30E; service was speedy and if not overly warm it certainly wasn't bad; came to abut 13E including service; the place was called "(something) Omnibus" if you go there


• wine at my fab special canal-side bar where I met the gents from Cambridge (mentioned in another of my Venice posts) was 8E a glass and came with a big bowl of peanuts


• walked away from another place just a couple side-canals away when I saw their menu prices, figured wine would break the Roberta bank


• almost went to one cute place on little canal when I read theirmenu; I stopped reading when I saw the soup was 15E


• my Bellinis from Harry's bar cost 15E each (yeah, I had two :-) but the atmosphere and history were as free as the olives (more in another of my posts)


• was sure to partake in my hotel's included breakast, simple but free and served to me at a tablle with a window of cute side streets; excellent coffee, juice, yogurt, jam-filled croissant and some cheese (and there was other stuff left in my basket)


• gelato by my hotel was perhaps the best I've ever had (thoughmaybe that rating comes partly from my degree of gelato craving at the time) and was cheaper than Florence: 3.50E for a cup with three flavours (stratacella, fragola and, my fav, limone.... Yum!)


• I picked up a little handpainted mask for 10E on my final day

So, Venice is going to cost you more than other places, but you can keep it reasonable in many areas. Just don't be afraid to splurge a little... after all, this is Venice!!!