Venice is kitsch. Venice has more American tourists than Trafalgar Square has pigeons. And yet... when you're riding down the grand canal you can see the attraction... ahhh, Venice. When I tune out my fellow north Americans (excluding the three I am traveling with of course) and blur my vision slightly to make the mass of people just look like colorful ground cover, I understand why people love Venice. It may be cheesy, but you won't see anything like it anywhere else in the world either. And besides, while I like going to out of the way places where you find lots of locals, I also don't want to become one of those snobby travelers who looks down my nose at other travelers either.
I think I also have a soft spot in my heart for Venice because it is the home of my earliest shopping experience that I remember. I was five and had the equivalent of one U.S. dollar, so I'm told by my mother, I don't actually remember that part. But I very clearly remember choosing my first big girl purchase, a necklace of small Venetian glass blue hearts. I'm also told I spent "A LOT" of time deciding on my purchase, considering other options, looking for just the right thing. I still have the necklace.
But it is true of even the most touristy of places, that if you look hard enough you can find non-touristy spots. We had dinner on a side alley where all the other patrons except a French couple were Italians. The only problem of course, is when we actually do get away from the other tourists and are surrounded by locals, it means we're also surrounded by cigarette smoke. Ahhh (cough, cough) Venice.
I think I also have a soft spot in my heart for Venice because it is the home of my earliest shopping experience that I remember. I was five and had the equivalent of one U.S. dollar, so I'm told by my mother, I don't actually remember that part. But I very clearly remember choosing my first big girl purchase, a necklace of small Venetian glass blue hearts. I'm also told I spent "A LOT" of time deciding on my purchase, considering other options, looking for just the right thing. I still have the necklace.
But it is true of even the most touristy of places, that if you look hard enough you can find non-touristy spots. We had dinner on a side alley where all the other patrons except a French couple were Italians. The only problem of course, is when we actually do get away from the other tourists and are surrounded by locals, it means we're also surrounded by cigarette smoke. Ahhh (cough, cough) Venice.
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