If Italy is the Capital of Awesome (well established fact) and the National Cinema Museum is Awesome’s official museum, then Venice is its official amusement park - its Disneyland.

A friend once told me that either you are a Florence person, or you are a Venice person. And that no one likes both with equal measure. We’ll get to Florence soon (I’m running a few days behind here), but Venice was absurdly good.

The main walkways were packed - in precisely the same way they are in Disneyland, as visitors move from one main attraction to the next. But foot traffic is Venice’s only traffic, so I didn’t mind so much. Just fell in behind the next tourist and made my way to the Rialto Bridge, and San Marco square.

Then, I got lost. On purpose.

I turned off the main path and began winding inward - away from people and their cameras, crossing tiny, empty bridges, watching women shake out rugs from their upper floors, listening to men grouse as they gutted fish, tossing the innards to hungry seagulls. My internal GPS never actually lets me get lost, so as soon as I decided on it, I’d be back at some recognizable junction, and on my way back to the hostel on the Grand Canal.

Me, I am a Venice person.

Don’t miss: Palazzo Ducale (well, well worth the 12 Euro entry), the house red wines (I’m a fan of Montepulciano), the vegetable soup, and for a night out, Campo Santa Margherita. Plenty of bars there to choose from, though we sorta dug the 90s tunes Orange was churning out.

Friday, November 9, 2007 | don't miss!, general