More Venice

I really haven’t been to Venice much since it is no longer alluring to me, but there is a pretty solid beach on Lido I’ve been to a few times. To get there, we have to take the 10 minute bus ride into Venice, then about a 40 minute water bus out to Lido…but it’s worth it. Last weekend, Sveta and I went and on the water bus I just started grinning. She asks me what I was smiling about and I said “I was just thinking about all the people who are stuck in China, India, or Belarus for the summer.” I'm sure my luck of good assignments will run out sometime...but hopefully not soon.



Anyways, we ended up sitting next to a bunch of law school students from Louisiana who were studying in Vienna, Austria for the summer. I threw my towel down, someone spotted my Braves hat, and there we had people to drink with for the entire afternoon – exactly what my summer has been missing. After an entire afternoon of Newcastle, grappa, and some strange rum/orange Gatorade/pineapple juice concoction, Sveta and I took our newly acquired tans back to Mestre.



How was everyone else's summer?

More Venice Pictures
Even More Venice Pictures

I would say just about the only downside to this place is that it is a tourist town, so we don’t have the same kind of interaction with local people as in other locations. The locals are accustomed to tourists coming, asking them for directions and stupid questions about the town, and leaving. So when they see obvious Americans like myself, they don’t go out of their way to communicate with me…even though I am going out of my way to study Italian. The hotel staff and refinery employees know how long we have been here, but I think it’s time to start branching out and driving up to Jesolo on the weekends. They have a huge beach there and a bunch of bars and night clubs. Venice is overrun by cafés and other spots dedicated to Tourists, and it seems that the other young people get out of town when it comes time to go to college.