Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Venezia, la mattina

When I travel I like to see each city at varying times during the day; early in the morning, lunch time, and of course the night. I have fallen in love with Venice. More accurately, I love Venice in the morning. Quite a romance has developed, I feel loved every time I go to Venice and I love Venice. It is a true love affair. There is nothing like Venice in the entire world. There are no cars in the city. For this reason it is the quietest city in the world. The whole city revolves around its location, meaning the canals. The mode of transportation is by boats. Try to imagine life without a car in the city. Mail, trash, ambulances and so much more are all parts of this culture that vary a great deal from other cultures. Because these are big projects that need to be completed these are all completed before anyone wakes up in the morning. Venice at 4 am is my favorite and I mean absolutely favorite place in the world. Mail is all delivered by boat to the correct neighborhood and is transported by hand until the actual address. Mailmen start work at 4:30 in the morning there. Most Venetians receive their mail very early in the morning. I still don't know how packages work yet? The next time I go I will have to make sure to ask. All the trash has to be brought out of the city by hand. The trash men don't drive trucks. They bring all the trash from the dumpsters to the nearest canal where depending on the amount is taken away in boat. I saw the trash men trying to drag an old desk which was thrown out. They had to transport this desk all the way to the canal where I am sure they had to call a bigger boat to come and get it. Venice is also the cleanest Italian city. They take very good care of the city. Every morning at about 6:00 am the city cleaners come out. They start with the streets; every street is swept and groomed. They then work their way eventually to the trash, bridges, and boats. They clean every ''waterbus stop.'' One of my favorite things to do in Venice is get lost, which is not hard. Every street ends in a different branch of the canals. It is virtually impossible to find your way around. Every little street in Venice leads you to a random canal where unless you want to swim across forces you inevitably turn around. I have been wanting to describe Venice for so long and I also want to explain my favorite other city. Piano piano.

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