October 21, 2016 – Sunny Days, Having My Plans Go Astray
The sun is out! The sun is out! Light dances upon and glistens off the water! Venice is a much prettier city basking in the sun’s rays.
Last night while walking around I stumbled across a daybill advertising a touring Shakespeare production starring Jonathan Pryce as the titular Merchant of Venice… and it was playing IN Venice. Today was going to be its final night in town and it just seemed serendipitous that of all the plays in all the towns… well, this seemed like a perfect fit for me. I found the online ticketing website Kafka-esque with options for English language that reverted to Italian the moment you clicked anywhere, including “Buy Tickets.” I fumbled through rudimentary Italian and web purchase guesses but couldn’t get a ticket to save my life. So this morning I took the 6L down to Venice proper from my hotel and navigated… well, bumbled my way to the Teatro Stabile Box Office. There the sad news was apparent with a small sticker affixed over Mr. Pryce’s head – SOLD OUT. The best laid plans…
But as I was strolling andsnapping photos of the city in light, I came across a woman dressed in Victorian garb hawking a Vivaldi Four Seasons concert for this evening. I hemmed and hawed over it and her other option, a “highlights of Opera” revue further in town but felt like I could get the same experience by dining in Philadelphia with my pal Rachel Fryd. I went with Vivaldi… and 28 euros later I hold in my hand a general admission voucher that LOOKS legit… we’ll see if it IS legit tonight at 8:30.
I thought about heading to the marathon expo directly from San Marcos but couldn’t figure out how to do it… my internet connection was whacked and I couldn’t tell which train, bus, water taxi, people mover, tram or what-have-you I needed. Plus I kinda wanted to stop by the hotel and regroup… so I took the 6L bus back toward Mestre.
As an aside, to get to the expo at San Giuliano Park, it’s one stop on the tram, one stop on most buses, and very, very easy to do from the San Marco transport hub. Live and learn.
However, I saw on my google map app (which still can show approximately where I am on the map despite not having WiFi or Cell Phone service… yet can’t provide me with directions) that I was relatively close to the park where the expo was happening. I clicked the Stop Requested button I saw others had used earlier and got off… apparently in the middle of the highway. On top of that I was on the wrong side of the tracks, separated by rail lines from the road I needed to walk on to get to the park. I could see the spires of what I presumed was the park itself not too far in the distance, but there was simply no way to get there. My only option at the stop I “requested” was to take the flyover bridge to an even further opposite side and walk back to the hotel… which according to my google maps app was 1.6 miles away. (Again, it can tell me that info but can’t give directions? Baffling.) The trouble I discovered was that I wasn’t sure if there was a sidewalk to use to walk that 1.6 miles. I never used a shoulder per se, but I did walk along an abandoned rail line that had the feel of a bike path conversion if said conversion ran out of money and the locals had then tossed down odds and ends to try and flatten the ground themselves.
I made it back eventually, retracing even a few of my steps from the original day’s concentric circle survey so at least once I hit that segment I knew how to get home. But still there’s something disconcerting about not knowing HOW to walk in a foreign country, especially when signs seemingly indicate simultaneously that an area is both for pedestrians but not for walking. It could be the not walking signs were leftover from the rail days and nobody bothered to take them down… as I eventually saw other people on the makeshift bike path I want to believe I wasn’t breaking any serious city ordinances. I at least had a shirt on.
Grabbing a quick lunch, I gathered my paperwork for the Venice Marathon expo and tried once again to download the Venice area off-line maps to my app. It succeeded but the moment I stepped outside to hop a bus back down to San Marcos the app told me that walking and transit directions are not available offline… so I’m not 100% sure what good the offline maps are to me.
Arriving back at San Marcos, I now learn San Giuliano Park is only a stop away; I took the 24H bus and arrived in ten minutes. Again, the bus stop felt like the middle of a highway but at least there was a large sign indicating where I was:
I walked against a small stream of people coming toward me as they held in their hands bright orange runner bags. I figured where they’d been before is where I needed to be. For the first time today, my instincts were right.
The expo itself was the usual, usual – stalls for other events, a few running clothing outfits, some samples of god-awful milk substitutes and dietary alternatives that mistake “wretched taste” for “healthy.” It was quick and painless getting the bib, albeit I did overthink the shirt size and wound up trying it on several times before heading back to exchange it for a bigger one. (Editor’s Note: Turns out I made the wrong decision and should’ve gone with the small — the medium doesn’t fit right either).
I even stopped to snap a photo as Signore 300, scribbling my Bernie Mac-Hancock on the inspiration wall Asics had set up.
But leaving the expo I once again fell prey to my poor sense of direction. I thought I knew what I was doing — I needed a bus going in the opposite direction to get back to Piazzale Roma; no matter where I walked I had no idea how to get across the street. I walked to one roundabout with nary a crossing and then to another in the opposite direction. Finally I realized the tram stop had an abandoned medium that I could cross to get to the stop all the way across the highway. As I did it, I noticed other folks behind me. I was either a trailblazer or this simply what was done. Long story short, I made it back to the hotel with just a few extra detours.
***
I came back to Venice early to wander around a bit before Vivaldi. I got cocky and took a different way into the city on foot and got completely turned around and lost. I saw a lot of new places … including presumably the mall within Venice… an abandoned section ripe for a horror movie.. even where locals go… but using google maps and a lot of luck, I got back to San Marco and eventually found the Vivaldi theater near the Rialto Bridge, which I don’t know if I’ve mentioned, is under renovation. Everything is always under renovation. If I see a tarp representing what the work looks like, is that the same thing as seeing it in person? Or is that the same thing as looking at a photo on my phone anywhere in the world?
This is a town for couples and maybe groups. It’s not really a town for a single melancholy guy. As is often the case when traveling solo I’m glad I’m here and experiencing things but I reckon I’m here a day too long. That’s not to say I’ve “done” Venice. Far from it. There’s oodles I’d do and there’s much I haven’t even contemplated about doing. But I’ve gotten my runner travel experience. See some sights, run a race, make some memories.
‘Course, I still need to run the race…
***
At dinner I treated myself to a glass of vino. This is what a 5 euro pout looks like in the heart of Venice.
On the plus side, this is what a gelato looks like — albeit it was supposed to be a scoop of gelato with a dollop of Nutella, it was more a scoop of Nutella with a dollop of gelato!
***
So the Vivaldi voucher was valid. I got seated in the “cheap seats” which as this photo will attest was separated from the 10 euro more expensive “premier” seats by a mere three feet and a blue velvet rope.
The performance itself was good but odd. The venue was oddly curved on one side of the audience, as if the theater had a beer belly. As for the staging, the performers were oddly imbalanced, with a lot of space on stage right and far too many crowded together on stage left. The poor piano player was virtually mauled Evil Dead 2 style by the fern in the corner. One wonders if the musicians or stage crew secretly hate her.
And I guess I’m that guy. The first half was by an all female band and they were great. But after the intermission they brought on this foppish guy to play lead violin on “The Four Seasons.” The guy could fiddle, sure, but so could the lady who led part one. I found myself wondering, “what the Susan B Anthony was up with that?!”
And I’d be remiss if I didn’t recount one final “lost in the back alleys of Venice” story. The theater isn’t that far from the Piazzale Roma and yet I took a wrong turn somewhere and was the hell far away, fumbling my way in the dark, shining my iPhone’s flashlight at walls looking for signs to the transit hub. We’re this the Amazing Race, I would’ve caused us to be the last team to check in and undoubtedly we would’ve been eliminated. As it was, it was one of those times it was probably for the best that I was alone — sometimes it’s best other people don’t witness the meltdowns.
