Venice at Night, Sailor's Delight

How in love am I with Venice right now? UhMuhGud.

Here on the ms Big Zed, we are fortunate to have overnight dockings in not only Venice, but Barcelona and Istanbul as well. It’s this sort of scheduling that makes for a happy, but tired and hung over crew. (I would like to state right here right now for the record that the rumours of my excessive alcohol consumption have been greatly exaggerated. Yes, yes, yes, I play it up a bit – and frankly am a little hung over right now because I’m on a detox and had 4 beers last night – but I don’t drink every day and very rarely drink to intoxication.) Istanbul and Barcelona tend to be more popular overnight ports because there is a vibrant nightlife scene, with clubs and discos aplenty. Venice seems like the Toronto of Italy, in that they roll up the sidewalks (or rather, canals) at 1 am. However, as reported in an earlier instalment, we have discovered a Venetian pub that has allowed us to revel past our bedtimes. (And before all you Torontonians get indignant on my ass, IknowIknowIknow the city’s changed open til2 partypartyparty. Yaaaaaawwwn). So 2 nights ago, most of my band mates left at midnight, while Jenny, Erin and I waited for Jesse to be done his shift. The plan was to walk to St. Marco’s to see it at night in the moonlight, without the crushing throngs of tourists normally found strewn amongst the pigeons. (The pigeons in Venice are fearless and vicious. There’s a tradition – if that’s the best word – of holding grain in one’s hand and having 10 000 pigeons dive bomb you and land all over your body. Flying rats, that’s all they are.). But earlier that day, I had been out with Jesse, and we ended up walking to St. Marco’s and back. It was a great afternoon, because he had never been to Venice and there always seems to be an amazing moment – and you can pinpoint it – when you can see when someone fall in love with the city. When you leave the dock, you have to walk about 15 minutes through a ship yard and over a big ugly bridge to get to Piazzelle Roma, which is a bus station. It’s just a typical urban industrial area that gets you thinking, “I hope THIS isn’t Venice”. However, right around the corner is a little set of stairs and a small footbridge and BAM! Venice. That’s the moment. But I digress. (As I tend to do…)

The 4 of us left at 1:30 am and decided not to walk all the way to St. Marco’s. So, we just walked around, ostensibly trying to find this little afterhours bar, but really just soaking in the magic of Venice at night. I think the most remarkable thing is that it’s absolutely silent. There are no cars, no late night revelry, no people walking around (or very few, and they seem to be mostly tourists) and you can stand stock-still and hear only the faint gurgling of the canals. It’s breathtaking. The city at night is stunning. All these narrow laneways and passages are quite well lit, so one never feels ill at ease. Every turn seems to offer a new surprise, both spectacular and mundane. For example, on garbage day, Venetians in upper floor apartments will lower a white shopping bag of trash from their windows on a piece of twine, and leave it hanging in mid-air. Or we saw 2 giant rats the size of footballs scurrying along a wall, and one jumped into the canal and started to swim towards us. Man, those little buggers go fast! The crumbling plaster and brick houses seem even more beautiful, if such a thing is even possible. The flowers in the window boxes almost seem lit from inside. The countless little bridges seem like mystical gateways into other dimensions. We walked around for a couple of hours, silent sometimes for minutes at a time, content to be in each other’s company and sharing a magical experience.

We never made it to the bar. Next time. Maybe.