Venice/Nice

OK, so I have the utmost respect for other cultures and all, but I'm getting a little tired of all these so-called "bank holidays" that screw with my trip. In Naples I would have had a hell of a time trying to get from the port to the train station with all the public transportation shut down because of one of these alleged holidays if it weren't for some Italian kids who walked me the two and a half miles from the tram stop I was waiting at (for nothing) to the station. Now I'm in Nice, and I only have two days, and one of their holidays has left everything, including the museums, shut down. And since the museums aren't open on Tuesdays, and this was supposed to be my museum day, well...

AND the weather's not quite shitty, but certainly not sunny.

So.

I don't want to seem like one of those typical American tourists who only likes thing that don't feel foreign, but Venice was amazing. I know it's got more tourists than residents, and I know that half of the conversations I heard around me were in English, but I liked it. And there's nothing you can do or say about it (although I imagine Aviva will bring up something about perpetuating stereotypes).

It's just such an interesting city since there are no cars or buses or anything, and the only way to get around is by walking or boat. Even the cops have their little police boats that they float around on. The taxi stands are boat docks, and people just row or motor along these canals from island to island. It's pretty awesome. And expensive as hell. If anyone would like to send me some money, they should feel free.

I went to a few art museums in Venice, but I'm hungry and don't feel like describing stuff, and anyway I think I left my journal in my other bag, so I won't. I will say the Peggy Guggenheim collection is cool, and you can even visit her and her dogs' graves. She had a lot of dogs.

I went to Palazzo Ducale, which used to be where Venetian government was carried out, and also has a prison, with this bridge called the Bridge of Sighs leading the way from the sentencing area (it's not a courtroom, so I'm going to stick with 'sentencing area') to the prison cells. People think it's this romantic thing because of Casanova, but it got the name because prisoners could get one last glimpse of freedom from the barred windows of the bridge before heading to their death. It was kind of interesting to walk across, but would have without question been better without the massive French tour group that kept getting in the way.

That said...

Nice
I just got into Nice this morning, but so far the people have been really surprisingly, well... nice. Maybe it's just Paris where people are mean to me.

I've even been trying to speak a little French with people who are helping me, like making looking up in my little phrasebook (thanks, UK Paul) how to say "aisle" when making my reservation to Barcelona or even just asking "Do you speak English?" in French instead of English. People seem to respond better to that, but maybe it's just because they're not from Paris.

I'd heard that Nice had rock beaches, but I was picturing more of a Paradise Cove-esque kind of pebbles (sorry, non-CA people)... instead they've got these big rocks that you really can't find a comfortable nook in (not that I've tried yet, though -- I've been wandering around all day under the overcast skies).

So that's about all I've got for Nice, partly because I've only been here a few hours and partly because everything's closed and I can't go where I want to go anyway.

Finally
As for Aviva's comment and the e-mails (OK, e-mail) about my not posting a lot, that's got something to do with lack of time, something to do with laziness in finding an Internet cafe, and something to do with my policy against spending more than 3 euros an hour on Internet. All over Venice it was 6 euros, and in Rome I was too busy chillin' with the Pope (we're so tight he has me calling him Benedict now).