🎶”Mi amore…”🎶
The men sing to me as a walk near a Venetian canal in the sun of the early morning. All the boats are unloading supplies and getting ready for a day of tourists. It struck me when I saw this, as I hadn’t quite thought about how Venice has boats instead of loading trucks. It was really interesting to see this, and being serenaded unexpectedly by Italian men is not half bad either.

That morning, I was able to see Venice before the tourists swarmed the San Marco Piazza and bridge. It was so worth the money to be in the quiet of the morning city, seeing the gondoliers setting up and the square almost empty. It was surreal.

Jenna and I tried to find our friends to get a group gondolier ride, but we ended up lost (one of the many times in the 24 hours we were there). It was stressful, but we took a wrong turn and ended up by the Rialto Bridge, with a great view of the water glowing in the sunlight. It was a happy accident that we ended up next to a gondola service and was able to cut a deal with one of them.

The gondola ride was one of the experiences from this trip that I will never forget. The quiet of the canals was so peaceful and moving. Another gondolier sang in the distance. I watched as they kicked off the corners of buildings when they turned too close to the buildings. I enjoyed every second of it. This was the moment I had waited for in Venice.

It was beautiful; I felt like I was a part of Venice. The blending feeling was intensified by tourists, taking pictures as we floated by. This one man, clearly a local, was passing through and stopped to look at us. Standing on the bridge, he looked at the people taking a picture of us and said in broken English, “yes, life short, huh, very short.”

Yes, Venetian man, life is short and so is my time in Venice – but for both, I will enjoy the ride.