Venice is nothing to write home about.

Venice is disappointing.  It's always portrayed as a deeply romantic city in films and literature- a gondolier sings "That's Amore" to strains of anonymous accordion music as he punts lovers down the pristine canals at sunset, a man uncorks a fine wine while his belle, parasol now safely stowed away for the evening, trails a hand daintily through the water over the boat's edge.

No.

Yes, Venice has canals.  Yes, Venice has gondolas.  Yes, Venice has sunsets.  Sadly, these things seem to have all been corrupted by pollution and tourists.  The canals have for ages been the septic tank of Venetian houses.  The water in them is thus contaminated considerably by this unfortunate fact, as well as by the exhaust bubbled through it by the many moterboats that traverse the canals.  This could also account for much of the city's funky smell.  The gondolas, extraordinarily expensive at around 75 Euros (possibly per person) per hour, have become so overrun by tourists that they basically now travel in caravans, thus considerably lessening the romanticism of a serene ride through the Venetian equivalent of a back alley.  There aren't even a lot of Venetian blinds!  The sunsets are still very pretty.

 

The city is definitely not without its charms though.  It's arranged completely illogically- there isn't even the roughest hint at a block system, or even properly named streets (houses are apparently assigned fairly arbitrary numbers used only by the postal service), so it's easy to get lost in the city.  This is part of the fun, though.  While wandering through these tiny, narrow, pedestrian-only streets (residents who own cars can park them at the municipal garage before entering the city itself) one is likely to find an excellent gelateria, a bookshop, sidewalk cafe, or art gallery.  Looking at all the houses in various states of repair is also interesting.  Some big, expensive-looking houses on canals have essentially water garages at their lowest level, and you're likely to find a statue or picture of a saint when ducking down what used to be an alley, but has been roofed by rooms in someone's house.

The city is definitely worth a visit.  However, if you're looking to wander, enraptured, through a city built around a canal system, I suggest Amsterdam.

     

Obviously, since today was the Fourth of July, and we were Americans abroad, we had to make our own fun to celebrate.  Since there were no fireworks we could go to watch, no giant picnics, and no parades, we did as best we could to celebrate America:  dinner at McDonald's.  It's one of two in Venice, and it felt considerably classier than American ones: the lighting was nicer, the seating was comfortable, the decor was attractive, and the music was much trendier.  The food, however, was the same.  I got a McRoyale with cheese, fries, and a coke.

It began to rain while we ate, and so we began to get wet once we left.  Marc and I picked up umbrellas on the street to replace those that were recently destroyed in our storm in Rome, and thus we trekked back to the hostel.  I bought a celebratory Budweiser on the way back as well (4 Euros for this fine, imported American beer), which we all shared.

 

Tomorrow we have another day to kill in Venice, and then we're off to Budapest, Hungary by night train!  This will be an interesting experience, as nobody knows anything about modern Hungary, nor do we speak a lick of the language.  We tried to brush up on a few basic words tonight- boy is it bizarre.  Until then, Ciao!