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Venice
Aug 12, 2022 11:45:07 GMT -5
Post by GRWelsh on Aug 12, 2022 11:45:07 GMT -5
I'm thinking of going to Venice, Italy. Any advice?
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Venice
Aug 12, 2022 13:01:43 GMT -5
Post by geneweigel on Aug 12, 2022 13:01:43 GMT -5
Its pretty small and tight the well known area ("Indiana Jones" chase area.). Its all camera angles to make it seem larger. Make sure nothing is being restored because if it is its going to end up as standard Italia with some history. The gondolas are like your standard double decker bus ride in a well known city. As its a water based area you might want a water tour of the outer bay to get your money's worth. There was a lot of thievery and crime back in the 1990's when I went to Italy in general and now my wife says we went during the "good old days" because her last trip (with my oldest daughter) to cross Italy was riddled with third world refugees.
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Venice
Aug 12, 2022 15:32:52 GMT -5
Post by GRWelsh on Aug 12, 2022 15:32:52 GMT -5
Thanks, Gene. Did you get to do any drawing or sketching while you were there? For some reason, I've always had this desire to go live in Venice for a few weeks. Just roam around, visit museums, take a lot of photos, and draw...
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Venice
Aug 12, 2022 19:52:29 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by geneweigel on Aug 12, 2022 19:52:29 GMT -5
I was so stinking drunk for the entire two weeks and it was enough to stand in the history.
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Venice
Aug 13, 2022 7:13:20 GMT -5
Post by GRWelsh on Aug 13, 2022 7:13:20 GMT -5
I better go soon because something tells me that Venice's days are numbered...
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Venice
Aug 13, 2022 12:39:53 GMT -5
Post by geneweigel on Aug 13, 2022 12:39:53 GMT -5
My biggest memory was the sale harassment on the knick knack statues. We came home with a small museum for ourselves and a lot she gave away. I recall going to a jewelry maker in Venice and a shoemaker with the tour guide.
In Venice it was all guided tour of "bridge of sighs" and gondolas with a large boat that approached from the water and disembarked in the famous plaza but in Rome, we went off the tour because my brother-in-law who was a top military type asked if I could guide the three of us off the tour and then return because he was sick of the "Griswold" aggressive family after listening to them on the bus for the past 3 days. So for three days in Rome I was the tour guide. I went deep and dank, that is when I got my famous "salamander" photo. After Rome we went to Naples, Capri, Sorrento and Pompeii then went back to Rome again and wrapped up what we missed.
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Venice
Aug 14, 2022 10:41:54 GMT -5
Post by GRWelsh on Aug 14, 2022 10:41:54 GMT -5
I know what you mean about the group tour thing. It can work if you are completely ignorant of a place, but I don't like being locked into a schedule with people I potentially don't want to be around, either. Part of the appeal of travel is being able to wander and discover. I haven't even been to Venice yet, but I know where the airport, train station, Grand Canal, Ponte di Rialto, Piazzo San Marco, Arsenal, Cemetery Island, Lido, Murano, etc. are in relation to each other. I already have the map in my head being kind of obsessive about geography. And I am a history, art, and music buff as well. I still have a lot to learn, but I just don't see the group tour as a value for me.
I'm not much of a souvenir collector, either. I don't like to be loaded up with the weight coming back. Travel like a marine, I always say.
I want to take a lot of photos and immerse myself in the atmosphere and the art. There's probably nothing more cliché than wanting to paint Venice, but I'm looking for inspiration. There's also that feeling of "going back in time to see that wonderful place before it was destroyed forever."
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Venice
Aug 14, 2022 16:08:22 GMT -5
Post by geneweigel on Aug 14, 2022 16:08:22 GMT -5
Honestly? It was a great time for historical reality so move it or lose it especially today with everything being erased for high mannered BS.
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Post by GRWelsh on Aug 17, 2022 7:46:23 GMT -5
I booked it for September 27-October 3. I'll be arriving in Venice by sea...
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Venice
Aug 17, 2022 9:58:56 GMT -5
Post by geneweigel on Aug 17, 2022 9:58:56 GMT -5
I booked it for September 27-October 3. I'll be arriving in Venice by sea... I just realized that the winged lion that I've had on my dresser now on my bathroom sink is from Venice. I completely forgot about that. Its a recurring motif. I just recalled that I went to a glassmaker as well.
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Venice
Sept 1, 2022 19:05:58 GMT -5
Post by grodog on Sept 1, 2022 19:05:58 GMT -5
That's quite cool, Gary. We visited Italy in 2006 for a cousin's wedding (Ethan was 2), and I had a great time: we were based in Venice (actually Venezia just outside), then went to Rome via Florence, then came back to Venice via Siena. It was a fun trip, and I really didn't have any particular expectations going in, and it was one of my favorite trips we've taken as a family. If you're able to return to Italy later, I would definitely allocate a few days in Florence (we were there for just 1). Pompeii is a must-visit IMO. We also didn't visit the Italian Riviera at all, or Lake Como, or the Cinque Terra areas. So, some other options to consider if you return Allan.
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Post by GRWelsh on Sept 23, 2022 8:41:42 GMT -5
Well, I got my passport renewed. That was quite an adventure, itself. I got my first passport in 1999 at the local office of the prothonatory for to a trip to Germany. Prior to that I'd been to Canada in 1981 and Mexico in 1990 but evidently I didn't need a passport to visit those countries then. Last time I got my passport renewed was 2010 and it was very quick and easy. A local post office took my photo, and I paid them whatever the fee was, and got it renewed -- either the same day or in very short TAT. When I booked my trip to Venice I knew my passport was expired, but I assumed 5 weeks was plenty of time to get it renewed again. That was when I found out the renewal process had changed and you can no longer do it so quickly and easily at a post office or prothonatory. Now you have to mail it in and standard processing time is 8-11 weeks. Worst case scenario is I'd have to cancel my trip to Venice and be out about $4,000. Fortunately, I found out there is an option for Urgent Travel. I had to call a number and make an appointment when I was within two weeks of my travel date. The closest passport agency is located in Buffalo, NY, about 3 1/2 hours drive from where I live near Pittsburgh. I got the appointment 8 AM on 9/21. So I decided to make a little vacation out of this trip. On 9/20 I drove up to the hotel, checked in, and then went to visit Niagara Falls which I hadn't seen since 1981. I stayed at the Curtiss Hotel, which from what I can tell is the best hotel in Buffalo, NY -- it made me think of NYC old style gilded age swank. On 9/21 at 8 am I went to my appointment at the passport agency and gave them my paperwork and my photo they told me to come back and pick up my passport at 2 PM. I went back to the hotel, checked out, and then went to a Middle Eastern restaurant (Crave King) to eat some sort of spicy meat and vegetables over jasmine rice. Then I visited the OLV basilica with its museum and gift shop underneath, and the botanical gardens nearby -- both of those places were amazing. I got my passport, and then drove back home. It turned out to be a nice little mini-vacation. And now I'm ready for Venice!
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Venice
Sept 23, 2022 9:14:20 GMT -5
Post by geneweigel on Sept 23, 2022 9:14:20 GMT -5
I stayed at a hotel like that in Philadelphia which was a really old luxury suite. Unfortunately, right after coming back from the really nice stay the entire family contracted super head lice. Now I always check the beds for activity.
I remember getting my passport in Orlando, Florida in 1984 because I wanted to go to Cairo then my aunt was flipping out over the terrorist attack so that got scrubbed. So she sat on my passport as I left my "life" with her behind because she was getting weirder as I closed in on adulthood. So in the 1990's I eventually rounded back to NYC and needed an entirely new passport. Talk about "night" and "day". The Orlando process was like visiting an old friend and the NYC process was like being raped in an alley.
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Post by GRWelsh on Sept 23, 2022 12:51:10 GMT -5
Something else to watch out for is currency exchange. It is better to get it exchanged at banks than airports, but banks can have a 2+ business day TAT for this service. I ran out of time so I'll have to buy euros at the airport. Something else to look out for is foreign exchange fees that some cards have. I found out my Chase Amazon Rewards Visa doesn't have the foreign exchange fee. Also I called my Visa company to let them know I'm travelling so they don't shut my card off suspecting stolen card data!
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Venice
Sept 24, 2022 11:54:40 GMT -5
Post by maximus on Sept 24, 2022 11:54:40 GMT -5
My wife and I went in the late '90s. It was ok, but stinky and expensive. We enjoyed Florence a lot more. The exchange rate was great at that time.
I had a friend go last July and he loved it. They were all over Croatia, Italy, and Spain, but Venice was one of their favorite places.
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Venice
Sept 25, 2022 13:48:46 GMT -5
Post by GRWelsh on Sept 25, 2022 13:48:46 GMT -5
"Stinky and expensive" isn't the most promising review I've ever heard. But, thanks for the feedback.
I'm going with the expectation that I'm going to spend a lot of money, and that's okay with me... It's a vacation. I just need to completely unplug from work for an entire week. I can't remember the last time I did that... It's literally been years.
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Venice
Sept 26, 2022 8:30:23 GMT -5
Post by geneweigel on Sept 26, 2022 8:30:23 GMT -5
I can't say my "Italian week" was a full capture of the experience with Venice. I lived in Greenpoint, Brooklyn around that time, in addition to putting on a "Labanza" with all the Italian fare in Williamsburg, Brooklyn every other day, the ambience in Greenpoint smelled like the essence of rotting sea and poop every 3 months or so like clockwork. By the time that I got to Venice it was like a bouquet.
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Post by GRWelsh on Sept 26, 2022 8:45:15 GMT -5
I wanted to keep the focus of this vacation limited to one city. I want to live in one place in Europe for a week and explore it by walking around without a particular agenda. I didn't want a packed itinerary rushing across Italy and not being able to get to know any one area or relax.
One of the main reasons I picked Venice? It is a "D&D city" meaning it feels like a fantasy city that should not exist but does.
"A city on the sea with canals instead of streets? That's not plausible."
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Venice
Sept 26, 2022 9:44:10 GMT -5
Post by maximus on Sept 26, 2022 9:44:10 GMT -5
"Stinky and expensive" isn't the most promising review I've ever heard. But, thanks for the feedback. I'm going with the expectation that I'm going to spend a lot of money, and that's okay with me... It's a vacation. I just need to completely unplug from work for an entire week. I can't remember the last time I did that... It's literally been years. Keep in mind, that was 20 years ago. The architecture was nice, and we took some cool boat rides. Unplugging for a week sound awesome. I've never been able to do it. Partially work's fault, partially mine.
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Venice
Sept 26, 2022 9:44:56 GMT -5
Post by geneweigel on Sept 26, 2022 9:44:56 GMT -5
One of the things that I forgot to mention was there was a larger sense of the supernatural than "American normal" for me. Which made it more enjoyable.
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