Life with “The Others”

I have been looking extra carefully at the everyday world around me, now that I’m getting so close to leaving this one. Here I share a few photos with you of what I see. Ahh, how I’ll miss this place.

Here’s a place that understands the full potentiol of vending machines. Besides the fact that they’re handy when stores close early and on Sundays, using these exaggerated contraptions is just kinda fun. I mean, you can find everything from milk to eggs to toothpaste and socks in here!

Hot chocolate taken seriously. A mug of hot milk and a bowl of crumbled chocolate pieces can’t be beat on a cold rainy day (no shortage of those around here!).

Or fresh mint tea. This place’s menus say what the mean and mean what they say.

And in a special closing pair of photos, Belgium has a certain idea of “correctness”. In the first photo we see this demonstrated in the common sight of public trash cans divided into recycling materials.

And, on the opposite end of the spectrum we see an advertisement for a local theater production, taken in the Brussels metro…

Haha. Bet you didn’t see that one coming! Well, don’t feel bad, neither did I. (Although it’s true that many many Belgians really aren’t aware that’s a shocking word, since it’s not in their culture.) Just goes to show that there are a lot of surprises hiding in plain sight. I can’t wait to see what I’ll find in DC – though I’m sure I won’t find a poster like this!

It’s official. It really is time to move back to America. And it’s not just because my “dear fiancee” and I have already made the decision to do so. That issue is moot beccause, more to the point, I can no longer afford to live in Europe.

The dollar has reached an even newer low of $1.59 to the Euro. It’s as simple as that. Everything here costs 60% more than it should for me. Time to run into the arms of the place where my money buys…something. You know, back in the day when some people were saying “if you don’t like George W Bush, why don’t you just leave?” I was happy to point out that I was doing just that. Oh the irony of the fact that, in a way, ol’ GWB would force me back. Touche.

The shout-outs I’d like to give from my visit? Firstly, our hotel. In one of the most expensive cities to overnight in Italy, we scored big time with a 4 person apartment, part of the Hotel Locanda Art Deco. The price worked out to just over 50Euros pp/pn which is about as good a deal as it gets in Venice (save for a hostel). It was squeaky clean, very cute, the staff super friendly and our breakfast was delivered to us in the apartment. It’s location is steps from the Accademia bridge (about a 10 min walk from St. Mark’s), making for a convenient crossing of the Grand Canal, yet it’s on a side street so it’s very quiet.

I would recommend – just once – sucking up the $15 price tag on a hot chocolate in St. Mark’s. Not only are these some of the first cafes in the world, but it’s as luxurious a hot chocolate as you can get (see photo). My Dearest also made arrangements for our two wonderful dinners. The first night we went to Al Covo, which could not come more highly recommended by just about every travel reviewing entity out there. However, while everything they do they do well and the owners could not have been nicer, the menu left me unsatisfied. For such a fussed over seafood restaurant, I was disappointed by the fact that there were only 5 main courses on offer, only 2 of which were seafood, both of them being the same fish-of-the-day which I happened to not be in the mood for. All menu options are pretty specific as well, usually in a way that did not appeal to me. Don’t let this stop you – this is a place of quality. But it is also a place of very specific tastes.

The next night we dared something “less Italian” – a the modern Lineadombra. Also well-reviewed, this place was more to my tastes. Plus, with a water-side terrace overlooking the southern islands, we couldn’t have been more charmed. Again, the owner was terribly friendly, and a grand sommelier to boot (22,000 bottles of wine fill their cellars) who was eager to help you pick the perfect wine, not to mention show you their super-fresh fish, or just chat a little. Alberto will send a waiter out to meet you on the point if you have trouble finding the place, and he’s happy to chat about Venice in general and be of help if he can be. Some might take his persona as arrogant; I merely found him very passionate about and proud of his restaurant.

As for your itinerary, make sure you go into some of the museums. Most people don’t, which is understandable as the city itself is like one giant museum, but do it. You’ll get a more textured feel for the city’s rich history (you can’t fathom how rich and powerful such a tiny place was until you see how it’s citizens lived), and get access to nooks and crannies you’ll otherwise miss. We went to the Doge’s Palace and Del was stunned and shamed that he had missed this on his previous three Venetian visits.

Last but not least, make sure you tour the surrounding islands. On Burano we met a 92 year old feisty local from the wildly colorful island, who told us about being an expert lace-maker who had made lace for the Queen of England. Loved her. The island’s pretty small – if you go, be sure to keep an eye out. The only island we failed to get to was Torcello, and I hear that is quite a pity. *sigh* Guess I gotta go back now.

For me, Europe is like my fiancee: it’s the one that has totally taken your heart. There are lots of different options (places/boys) and so many are interesting in different ways, but this is the one that’s clearly “a keeper”. Sure it’s imperfect, but it’s the one that dependably makes you happy. Keeps you interested. Challenges you. Makes you feel warm and cozy inside; makes you smile. Makes you feel like you belong. Like you occupy a particular, irreplaceable niche in its life as much as it does it does in yours. But it’s also been a long time since you had that “first kiss feeling”.

That’s what Venice just did for me. After years of a solid loving relationship with Europe in which I grew to feel that it held no more surprises, Venice gave me that first kiss feeling. I guess years of hearing that it was dirty, stinky and clogged with tourists, I was bound to be pleasantly surprised. The water, the boats, the cheerful Italians, the bridges, the food. Venice is a place you could just wander the streets for days and never grow bored. Every corner is more interesting than the last. It’s a giant labyrinth of bridges, tiny twisting streets and stunning architecture. (We had plenty of laughs as the men would lead us somewhere confidently – only to wind up dead ended into the water.) Underneath all of your enjoyment lies the nagging and unfathomable issue of how such a place could ever exist. Seriously. How did they do that?! But anyway…

We were accompanied by our friends Dan and Anna, and we couldn’t be happier to have shared the weekend with them. I had purposely never gone to Venice, figuring that it would be a shame to waste the romance of it by traveling there solo. So it is perfect that Del took me there for a birthday present, and just as nice to have shared it with another couple that we like so much. I can’t believe I ever held such low expectations for such a wonderful place! In fact, I hope to go back again and again. (Namely, I’d love to take a less strenuous visit, when I can just relax and drink a cappuccino while listing to the water slop against the stairs, boats and houses.) My only disappointment was not being able to see an opera in the famous Teatro de Fenice (sold out), but hey, I can always use an excuse to go back!

If you’d like to hear about my recommendations, I’ll post those tomorrow. Otherwise, I’ll leave you with a couple of photos (as usual, the rest are on their way to Flickr any day now).

From Accademia bridge over the Grand Canal

Looking back from the island of Burano.

DIY hot chocolate deluxe.

Servizio Gondole (from St. Mark’s).

I’m finding the English style wedding a little hard to get a firm grasp on. I mean, the differences I speak of are no big deal, but just enough to make me feel…a little like we’re speaking a different language.

I may have already mentioned that in England, one can only get married in daylight hours. I can’t find the reason for this, but I’m sure there’s some charming history behind it. I kinda like the thought of a night wedding, but okay.

Next comes the confusion of the reception for me. In England it is called the “wedding breakfast”. This is apparently because people once got married first thing in the morning, then everyone had breakfast. Cool. The thing I can’t seem to come to an easy understanding with the venue rep’s about is our concept about what a modern-day reception entails.

Where I’m from a wedding goes like this: guests come to ceremony, then go to reception hall where they eat a meal, dance and mingle until everyone goes home. Basically, you either come or you don’t. It’s a package deal. In much of Europe, it doesn’t necessarily work that way. Here it is customary (to varying extents, depending on country/region) to divide the day into several parts – guests may be invited to different combinations of those parts. There’s the ceremony, cocktails, dinner, after party. I am not into the idea of just inviting someone to the cocktails or late party, particularly as no one is local for me of course. Who wants to come all the way to England for just cocktails? I do understand that the upside is that this allows you to include everyone you want to participate in your day somehow, even if you can’t afford/don’t have room to feed them all dinner.

For obvious reasons, Del and I are going for the all-or-nothing invitation, but here’s the thing: the English wedding professionals don’t seem able/willing to grasp a wedding that is put on that way. They keep trying to force us into dividing the reception itself into two separate parties, although there’s not really sufficient time to do so. (Hello. Can anyone say “money-making” issue?)

Most venues try to make you purchase not only a full meal, but also a 2nd buffet-style offering for later in the night. I get that the concept is that the party will go very late night and include more people. They will want to eat (or eat again). But the ridiculous thing (to me) is that few of these places let you use the venue past 1am! We’re not even going to finish eating until 9PM or so. Nor are we having extra guests join after. As my guest, would you really want to eat a full sit-down meal, then eat again before 1am? I wouldn’t. Even the huge, elaborate Spanish wedding I went to in September – which went on until 5am – only served coffee and pastries and I’d never even seen that before. These came at about 2am, and I found it to be very generous. I would have turned green at the thought of more proper food.

So anyway, no matter how many times Del and I go over with the venue reps what we’re doing they keep saying, “and what would you like to serve your guests later?” It’s one of those moments where I feel like we’re having two separate conversations, although contrary to when that happens in Belgium, we are speaking the same language! It seems that the English wedding industry let go of the traditional wedding schedule, but not the traditional sales. Grrr!

Update: I had only just finished this post when I finally received the estimate for our “wedding breakfast”. Even though I’ve been through the details several times with the rep (having sent an email repeating our plan just yesterday), the estimate came back including an “evening party” with 40 additional guests and a 2nd meal – at $26 per head. I think gave myself a bald spot with all the pulling. Curses!