Merchant of Venice 3.ii
Owing to some rescheduling on a school's part, I was left with a free day on my first full day in Italy. A free day on a sunny, 24 degree day that was about the size of a day trip to Venice. So, not wishing to squeeze anything of an unsuitable size into a gap about the size of a 'day trip to Venice', apart from a day trip to Venice, I popped in a day trip to Venice. And you know what? It fitted admirably well.
And then to the bill. Clearly I hadn't figured in the charge for sitting down with live music (6 euros), pleasant as it was, or the possible price of the gin. I'd been warned of being over charged, but 19 euros for a double, even with the studied flourish, did seem a touch excessive, especially considering the 6 euro music addition. Still, at such times I thank the system for Trinity's daily food allowance. Yes, I had spent nearly a whole day's allowance on a gin and a handful of olives, but a treat all the same. Bearing in mind Othello 1.iii ("The robb’d that smiles, steals something from the thief."), I smiled, trying to understand the logic of the stealing nothing physical from thieving merchants, and instead came back to the tale of Venetian Shylock and his miserly ways. There's a lesson there, but I think I've had too much wine this evening to quite fathom out what it is.
Turning down an 80 euro gondola trip back to the railway station, I meandered my way back to the train and to the littler prices of the 'little Venice' of Treviso. Really a place that's grown on me. Next, Rovigo and some things the exam candidates have come out with.
Owing to some rescheduling on a school's part, I was left with a free day on my first full day in Italy. A free day on a sunny, 24 degree day that was about the size of a day trip to Venice. So, not wishing to squeeze anything of an unsuitable size into a gap about the size of a 'day trip to Venice', apart from a day trip to Venice, I popped in a day trip to Venice. And you know what? It fitted admirably well.Trains from Treviso to Venice are incredibly regular and most trains from the north to Venice pass through Treviso, meaning a train about every 15 minutes. Being so regular, I didn't choose a particular train but thought I'd turn up 'on spec'. Of course, train timetables being as they are, there are never quite as straight forward as one might think. trains to Venice from Treviso are indeed every 15 minutes throughout the day, except, crucially, from just after 10am, when there's a gap of about an hour. I'm sure you can imagine what time I arrived at the station.
Interestingly, the 40-minute trip just cost 2.40 euros and the time I spent waiting for the train had me wondering why a 40-minute train journey in Italy costs about £2 and an equivalent journey in the UK about £10. Looking back at my experience of trains in Italy, the further south you go, the clearer the reason for the price difference. And I still think they look like something from the classic 1970s 'disaster' film The Casandra Crossing every time I come here.
My first time in Venice and it is quite a treat. Wandering round the quieter areas from church to church, through the Jewish quarter (no usurers seen) to Piazza San Marco. I was told that Venice is a smelly place, and one can well believe it with all that water and what-not about, but in the mid spring sun with 24 degree heat and a light westerly breeze, it was really quite pleasant. Some say that Venice defies description, but Napoleon (pictured) had a kind of a go, describing Piazza San Marco as the 'finest drawing room in Europe'. You can tell he was a bumpkin sort, brought up on an
island - San Marco's doesn't even have a roof and is prone to flooding. Certainly not the kind of drawing room I'd like. But then Napoleon was French, didn't wash and licked wall paper, so what would he know?
After strolling through the quiet back streets ('calle'), the seething throng I encountered in San Marco's was reason enough to head for the golden interior of the Basilica, and my, these Italian Catholics do like their gold. Added to this are a quartet of horses, said to be made in the 3rd century, 'acquired' from the sacking of Constantinople.
After such treats, I decided upon another - a gin and tonic in a piazza cafe. Live music was playing, the sun was still shining and the gentle buzz of tourist chatter indicated it was gin o'clock. Now, I'd been warned that one might pay over the odds for a drink in a piazza cafe, but knowing how continentals do like to pour large measures and considering the atmosphere, how could I not order a drink. And so the waiters, resplendent in white tunics with gold dazzling from buttons and epaulettes, brought out my gin, and a plate of olives, on a silver platter (only a double, but undeniably served with a studied degree of flourish). The 5-piece played a selection from Cole Porter and 30s classics making it redolent of something PG Wodehouse or of a sun deck on the Titanic at least (which probably isn't too far off the mark considering how often the square is under water).
After such treats, I decided upon another - a gin and tonic in a piazza cafe. Live music was playing, the sun was still shining and the gentle buzz of tourist chatter indicated it was gin o'clock. Now, I'd been warned that one might pay over the odds for a drink in a piazza cafe, but knowing how continentals do like to pour large measures and considering the atmosphere, how could I not order a drink. And so the waiters, resplendent in white tunics with gold dazzling from buttons and epaulettes, brought out my gin, and a plate of olives, on a silver platter (only a double, but undeniably served with a studied degree of flourish). The 5-piece played a selection from Cole Porter and 30s classics making it redolent of something PG Wodehouse or of a sun deck on the Titanic at least (which probably isn't too far off the mark considering how often the square is under water).
And then to the bill. Clearly I hadn't figured in the charge for sitting down with live music (6 euros), pleasant as it was, or the possible price of the gin. I'd been warned of being over charged, but 19 euros for a double, even with the studied flourish, did seem a touch excessive, especially considering the 6 euro music addition. Still, at such times I thank the system for Trinity's daily food allowance. Yes, I had spent nearly a whole day's allowance on a gin and a handful of olives, but a treat all the same. Bearing in mind Othello 1.iii ("The robb’d that smiles, steals something from the thief."), I smiled, trying to understand the logic of the stealing nothing physical from thieving merchants, and instead came back to the tale of Venetian Shylock and his miserly ways. There's a lesson there, but I think I've had too much wine this evening to quite fathom out what it is.
Turning down an 80 euro gondola trip back to the railway station, I meandered my way back to the train and to the littler prices of the 'little Venice' of Treviso. Really a place that's grown on me. Next, Rovigo and some things the exam candidates have come out with.
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