Joel in Venice

A word on Venice (all i can or will spare it). Venice is a dying city, in every sense of the word. The buildings are sinking or falling apart or both. Everything costs 2 to 3 times what it costs in Paris (which already costs 2 to 3 times what it would cost in Calgary) it is noisy, smelly, and hot. (a dry heat, which seems unusual given that half the city is in fact under water). The noise was not the usual city noise, but rather was an amalgamation of drills, hammers, and saws, half hidden and echoing out of half closed doorways and boarded up windows as the men and women of this city frantically repair and restore and rebuild their home even as it falls apart around them. They say Venice is the city of romance, but i didn’t see much or any of that. The men seemed melancholy and resigned and the women wore dark sunglasses, $400 pumps and walked straight ahead without so much as glancing at the people they passed. Venice too has pay toilets but they are twice as expensive half as numerous and hidden in dark corners with poor signage. I’m quite certain that we were ripped off every where we ate. The entire day we were there i had a sore throat and stuffed up nose from the air in the train the night before. Venice may once have been beautiful, and it still clings to a corner of its former beauty desperately, but it is no longer a gem, and one day soon it will likely be gone forever. Reclaimed by the sea that wore it for so many hundreds of years as a crown. To those reading i will say this: everyone should visit Venice. See it now while it is still with us, for soon it will be gone. Visit it for a day, and then leave it forever.