Shopping and Cruising the Canals

Shopping.

I can't really comment on shopping in Venice. It's the usual thing to do, so I didn't. But the others did. We are now the proud owners of a couple of scarves and a little glass mouse. Proudly we don't have a Venetian mask, or an illuminated gyrocopter, or a blob of self reassembling green goop, which recovers amazingly after being splattered in front of you. Proudly too, we don't have a fake Louis Vuitton bag. 

A vendor launched this gyrocopter.. arty effect as it descends in St Mark's Square

There are lots of illegal street vendors in Venice. They look Sudanese, and we became aware that near our apartment was an emergency meeting point when the police shoo them away. That seems to be all that the police do.. Massimo told us that trying to eradicate them would be pointless. I suspect also that they do their part for the economy.

Cruising the Canals.

We didn't gondola (try conjugating that verb!), but we did engage Massimo for his personal boat tour, which he had offered at a cheap rate as part compensation for our accommodation debacle) He was keen to show us the Arsenale, a huge complex, off the tourist route. This walled port is where an amazing feat took place. The Venetians ability to rapidly build military ships is renowned and impressive. Massimo told us of an example. A visiting Italian dignitary was treated to a display of how quickly the Venetians could replace a ship lost in battle. On his arrival in Venice the construction of a ship was commenced. By the time he left 7 hours later the ship was complete and ready to sail and fight!

From Massimo's boat

The outside of the Arsenale.. internal photo to come.

We wanted to visit the Central Canal. This canal is deeper than the others and represents the course of the ancient river that formed the lagoon. Massimo took us down a couple of subsidiary canals, just wide enough to admit his (narrow) boat, and too small for gondoliers. Massimo was lovely. His life story was colourful. An only child, his parents dying when he was 14, he studied law, but it was not for him. He entered the film industry as a site scout, but the global financial crisis put an end to this, and he now rents apartments to tourists. This however was not exciting enough for him, and he's keen on doing something different, maybe mathematics which he has a passion for. We had only arranged to spend an hour on his tour, but he extended this by 40 minutes! We really enjoyed his company, and we ended up in his neighbourhood where he pointed out a local Japanese artist's place and a cheap restaurant.