Venetian Halloween

Venice, Oct. 29, 2008

Water. Everywhere. What a crazy day we had... we were damp and uncomfortable after a couple of rainy days camping in Florence, so we were hoping to drive out of the weather as we went north through the mountains to Venice. Instead, we came through torrential downpours that started small flash floods on the highways. Because the roads here -- even the 'peage' toll motorways -- have no shoulders to speak of, we couldn't pull over, but had to creep forward with the humidity so high we could hardly see through either side of the windscreen. That was exciting!

We stopped at an information booth on the motorway just before Venice, and the woman there made it clear in her disdainful and heavily accented English that we would be mad to pitch a tent in this weather... so we've ended up in another campground 'bungalow'. She figured that Venice would be flooded, but "toureests lova thees"! Last night as the rain and wind tore through the camp, I was very glad to have walls and a roof between us and the great outdoors.

Water to us on the praries is important, of course; it's the difference between burnt fields and prosperity, but here in Venice, water is life itself. They drive on it, play in it, and live on it; their front doors open upon it; it is their garden and their driveway; their livelihood and... in these days of rising tides... their bane. The lagoon around the city is laid out with channels just like roadways, complete with speed signs (14 km) and work crews manning bobcats and backhoes as well as flatdeck boats and floating platforms. Gondolas still ply the canals -- but only for the tourists; the locals use motor boats!

As I write this, the light has been dimmed by the shadow of a huge Norweigan freighter passing so close that even I could throw a rock and hit it. Now that she's gone past, the skyline of Venice sparkles in newly-washed splendour just across the lagoon.


Oct. 31st
Happy Halloween!!


The kids have been very concerned ever since we left for Europe as to what would happen for Halloween. Their hopes were raised by an occasional person in various countries assuring them "oh yes, we celebrate it now"... but the reality is that 'celebrating it' seems to mean some Halloween patterned goods in candy shops, and some decorating in a bar here or there. On the flip side, we've been travelling a continent where ghouls are quite commonly referred to, spooky houses and old castles abound, and the sight of a skull or skeleton is pretty common -- in a way, the whole autumn has been one long and drawn out homage to All Hallow's Eve!

And of course, being in Venice, the land of costumes and revelry, we figured we had to find some way to celebrate! The kids have been absolutely obsessed with the idea of Venetian masks ever since we set foot in Italy, so we decided to buy one for each of us as part of our Halloween celebration. We have now been to every shop that sells masks within a square mile of St. Mark's Cathedral -- some of them twice!!! We've have learned a lot about masks through this process, so Mitch (the anti-shopper) was somewhat appeased! All of us ended up getting our masks in different stores; they're quite an individual thing in regards to shape and personality, and getting the two aspects perfect is a stroke of luck (or perseverance!).

Yesterday afternoon we were given a pamphlet on the street by a girl in costume -- given the time of year, this intrigued us enough to look at it more closely. It was for a 'dinner theatre' style show about the history of Venice -- and "Time Out" magazine gave it a very good review. Kids were free (!!), so we decided to use it as an excuse to get into our fancy clothes that we've bought along the way. This meant pelting back across the city to catch a ferry back to the campground, doing a quick clean up and change, and then rushing back to catch the next ferry and have time for more mask hunting. It was really worth the rush, though... the kids got compliments everywhere they went because they were looking so spiffy, and the show was excellent... well performed and designed. We learned a lot!! Turns out that at its peak, Venice Carnival lasted eight months of the year, and once a mask was donned, it pretty much gave the wearer license to do whatever they pleased. In a country as zealously Christian as Italy, I had wondered how this would work.. but it seems that the monks and nuns were generally just as willing to put on a mask and step into a different lifestyle as the common folk! It's really a miracle more damage wasn't done than was over the centuries; every now and then a new Doge (mayor) and his government would crank out a new list of reforms, but it just seemed to lead to more craziness. For better or worse, the advent of the World Wars finally shut down the party town. I'd love to go back to modern-day Carnival itself (The week of Ash Wednesday), but I can't even begin to fathom how crowded it would be; we are here in the low season and the crowds are manageable, but its definitely busy.


We went back into town this morning for a final look around and to get the last couple of masks with a plan of wearing them once we all had one. We did do this a bit -- and it was surprising how few stares we got as we wandered down the streets -- but it has been drizzling with more rain all day, so fears of wrecking them has limited our time for masked revelry.



On the Venetian Lagoon
leaving Venice
Nov. 1st

Well, we've had a great time here... even in the rain, there is just something undeniably romantic about this city full of narrow pathways, so much water, and beautiful bridges. However, it is not a cheap place to enjoy and the rain presists, so it's time to move to the far South in hopes of warmer temperatures and to keep a tryst with the Gods the boys have read and imagined about for so long.

Our original thought was to drive down the Adriatic coast past what was once the Yugoslavian coastline and now is made up of Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and Albania. We were a bit doleful about the length of the drive... and then further investigation (most of it completed late last night!) revealed that our car insurance is not valid for Albania. Why? Because Albania has only really had cars for the last ten years or so since the Wall came down and Communism's steely fist loosened. But apparently the drivers are terrible, the roads even worse (just glorified cart tracks in many place -- and this is through some serious mountain ranges), and mechanics a rarity. Hmmm... while puzzling over whether or not to take our chances and drive anyhow, I did a little more reading about the people... since Communism has diminished, the ancient practice of blood feuding has waxed again. this means that if an offense is given to one family by the opposing one, the insulter must die. But then if someone in a family is killed, his death must be avenged by the entire clan clubbing together to track down and kill all of the men in the family that gave offense. You can see how all this can get a bit complicated and terribly hard on population numbers(!); the guide book then went on to comment cheerfully that tourists are rarely hurt in these struggles, which for the most part are centered in the North Eastern mountain areas. Great. That was right where we had to drive as Serbia was also nit allowed by our insurance documents. Conjuring up images of being stuck in some remote mountain town with broken axle and no way to fix it as the only mechanic in town was stabbed to death in front of us.... we decided to cough up the cash and take the ferry down to Patras. Less exciting perhaps... unless you are three children roaming a huge ship for the first time!! (And I like that kind of excitement better).

Besides, the view of Venice as we slowly slipped through the harbor and out to sea has been worth every penny. This way, we can admire the coastline of Albania from the ship!!