(posted at the risk of alienating almost my entire readership)
We boarded a vaporetto, a Venice water-bus that was going to take us to our hotel. Like many tourists, we took our suitcases on the vaporetto. It wasn’t exactly convenient, but tourists with suitcases on a vaporetto are a common sight in Venice, as they also are on the London Underground. I heaved my suitcase off the boat when we got to our stop. I heard this loud piercing male voice behind me. “Do you have to take your bags with you everywhere?” (Imagine me telling the story using my fake American accent). I ignored him, walking towards the bridge that would take us to our hotel, rather than following the rest of the tourists to La Salute Church. Then I heard the voice again, closer this time. This guy had made the effort to catch up to me and, mockingly, asked the question again. I wish I had been brave enough (rude enough) to give him the rude gesture I was giving him in my mind. And at least he had the sense to realise he was an idiot when I pointed out I was heading for my hotel, not La Salute. He skulked off appropriately.
I shrugged and thought no more of it, till the next morning. We were exploring the walking route to St Mark’s Square. I was trying to find the perfect artistic shots of Venice’s wonderful architecture (I didn’t). I leaned against the wall of a building to steady myself, and went to lift the camera to my eyes (viewfinders are essential) to see if there was a shot worth taking. This woman stuck her face into mine, laughing maniacally, and yes, again, mockingly. “You’ve got the lens cover on. You’d never get a decent shot. Learn to use your camera! Ha ha ha ha ha!” Yes, it was that accent again. I was starting to think I had borrowed a friend’s “crazy person magnet.”
Revisiting Venice after 13 years was fun. But we noticed changes. I mean, since when was “cookies and cream” a real Italian gelato flavour? And when we first went to Italy, we loved loved LOVED the pizza stalls where they had big rectangular slabs of pizza; you pointed at one, they roughly cut a section off in a square, then folded it in on itself, and handed it to you wrapped in paper. This time, the pizzas were on sale on round pizza plates, sold by the awkwardly shaped (triangular) slice, just as they are in America. And to make it worse, the flavours were not traditional, Italian flavours. They were piled high with sausage and pepperoni, and labelled as such. I swear I saw a Hawaiian pizza, though to be entirely honest I can’t be sure it wasn’t my imagination.
I ordered coffee for breakfast. I was given an “Americano.”
In the street off St Mark’s Square there was (and I’m not joking) a cafe called American Fast Food. There was a line of tourists buying their lunch there.
I love my American friends. I know you’re not to blame. I know you’re all fun, and warm, and would never mock strangers (well, not to their faces), and have good taste in food. But you might understand that for a while there, I ranted that the Americans had ruined Venice.
But then … this …
(click photos to enlarge if you’ve forgiven me)
Part of the problem is also Venice itself – it has become a crass tourist trap. It tends to attract all types, including idiots who probably think going to Las Vegas is the best vacation in the world. The behaviour you describe is classic annoying American tourist behaviour, but there are probably lots of idiots there from other countries, too. They just tend not to be as noticeable 🙂
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Judging from the photos, Venice appears unruinable. What is the name of the hotel, should I ever get there?
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You’re right. It’s still gorgeous. Centurion Palace was the hotel. We splashed out to stay there, then got upgraded to a corner room with the most wonderful views.
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It’s been years since I was in Venice. I was there twice, both times in December. I have a feeling that that was a good thing. Who ARE these people?
All the pizzas I was ever served in Italy—mostly in Verona—were round. My impression definitely was that this was the way it was.
I remember some obnoxious environmentalists ruining a favorite mountain hike for me in the Adirondacks. I have never returned.
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IB, the first time I was there was late November, and it was freezing! It was actually quite nice to find a quiet square (on the side we stayed this time), escape from the crowds, and enjoy a gelato!
Oh – and the pizzas – yes, if you order them in a restaurant they’re always round. But the litte take-out stalls were always in a slab … sigh, I missed them.
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I don’t like Americans abroad either. Venice has in my experience always been a bit too Disneyland – you have to get way away from the main sights to feel like you’re in Italy again. What broke my heart on my last trip was seeing the same chain shops on the great shopping streets of Rome, Florence, Milan … The little mom & pop shops gone, all of it like a big mall. In Rome I escaped to Trastevere, my old home, but in other places I have no idea where to escape. And there I found my favorite pizza shop still there, the seafood salad pizza the same … No traces of the cultural havoc we’re wreaking in the world …
But yeah. Avoid American tourists. Except me.
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Lisa, I’m so jealous that you have lived in Rome. Fortunately, the non-St Mark’s side was quieter and just as lovely.
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Interesting post, Mali. I’ve not been to Venice — might never make it there, but I noticed a huge change in England from 1985 to 2002. There was suddenly a much bigger European influence than before. So I suppose Europe ruined England for me.
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Dona – and the Russians are ruining the beaches of Thailand. (Mind you, they’ve taken over from the Germans, so it’s really the case of six of one, half a dozen of the other!)
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The thing about the US is there is 300+ million of us. Some of us are jerks, and some of us are very lovely! But see, since there are sooo many, the jerky Americans exist in a larger quantity than jerky New Zealanders (although we only met ran into … 2 or 3 jerky New Zealanders the whole 2 months we were in the country). So, you know, I have no idea why people are so outwardly rude – it is shocking to me (and embarrassing, I don’t want to be associated with those people ever). So on behalf of the all nice, kind, thoughtful Americans, I apologize for those 2 jerks who ruined Venice for you.
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Yes, what I really love (not) is how so many of us (Americans) will travel long distances to exotic and foreign lands just to demand all of the comforts and familiarity of home. Why not just stay home then??? Personally, if I am in Venice, I want to experience Venice. Also, I second Nicole in apologizing for the 2 jerks you encountered…
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I don’t think Americans are more inclied to be badly behaved abroad than anyone else… but you tend to notice them more. English people too.
My weirdest American-abroad story was in South Africa. The woman behind me on a cruise started lamenting really loudly that they’d passed some “cheap houses” the day before and she wish she’d taken a photo of them. I presume she meant a township, and they aren’t exactly unusual over there.
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That is really disturbing.
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Lest my friends think I am slandering the entire population of the US, I must add that the week before Venice I travelled on a ship with several hundred Americans and they were, without fail, polite and well behaved!
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Me, I dislike having touristy human beings of any nationality around the places I love. This makes me an unhappy tourist. That’s why I seldom travel!
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