Venetian decadence + Rome-ing

So yeah, Milan, didn’t manage to do a whole lot there. Basically saw the Duomo, got lost on the way back, found my way back to the hotel eventually, then left the next morning for Venice.

Venice was quite nice. The architecture, the wateriness, and music, and all that was lovely.

The prices of things, however, were definitely not nice. Certainly not for the faint-hearted/poor. Patrick  shouted me, to repay my shouting of the Bordeaux dinner, what is, if not the most expensive coffee in the world, the most expensive coffee I've ever had. 5,80 euro (they use commas instead of decimal points over there, dontcha know - culcha) for the live music charge (there was live music played - it worked out to be about a euro a song), plus about 9 euro for the coffee itself. It did, however, come with complimentary chips and water. And they did play 'La Vie En Rose'. You know, that song by Rachael Leachar (lololol I just mocked mX readers). Yippee. Cheers Paddy.

Also, everything there seemed really manufactured. Even the skies the next morning when we were leaving looked manufactured, and they were to a certain extent. They had those planes spraying white lines in the perfectly clear blue skies.

Everything seemed to exist purely to suck money away from tourists. There were very few, if any, organic sort of businesses that exist to serve the needs of everyday citizens. This may be because there are very few ordinary everyday citizens. I don’t think I saw any locals apart from those sucking money from tourists. A very nice place on the surface, but quite cynical underneath I think.

So as I write this up, I’m sitting in the hotel lobby of my hotel in Rome. A very nice hotel, but a relative age away from anything worthwhile.

I don’t want to sound like I’m Rome-bashing, but there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot here, despite its size. It’s much the same as everywhere else, except less good. The tourist attractions (Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps) were nice, but the city itself, by and large, is not very beautiful. It’s a bit run-down and old, crowded and busy (especially the trains. Can you believe they have two train lines to service the entire city? Bizarre).

The highlight for me was probably Vatican City. A very nice place, and it had a great ambience to it.

The weather was also really hot. It’s only 30-odd degrees, but it’s sweltering from about 9am in the morning, right through to God knows when at night. I think it seems hotter because during the Melbourne summer, it usually only starts to really heat up at around midday, rather than pre-breakfast.

So now I am a nice shade of brown, and I travel to Florence in the few hours. Kind of wish I’d made the train earlier.

Word of the Day: Organic