Ancient history

13. Day 3 in Venezia – 27 May 2019

Eyes opened at 4 in the morning. It rained almost the whole night, so by morning it was quite cold. Vijay's eyes also opened with me. He made tea and I sat down to write the details of yesterday's trip. Keep writing till 8 o'clock. Meanwhile drank two more cups of tea. Today we had only one place to go.

Vijay had read on the net that on Monday at 11 am, a vegetable market is held on boats in a canal. It is a center of special attraction for foreign tourists. Today we decided to go there. This place was only 1 kilometer away from our apartment. We left the service apartment at 11.00 am. It was still drizzling slowly. That's why dad stayed at home.

We went with umbrellas and raincoats. Till now we had remembered that before going out of the house here one should take an umbrella or raincoat.

Boats' special weekly vegetable market

Walking through narrow streets, narrow canals and small culverts on them, we reached the place where a special weekly market is held in boats in about 20 minutes. We are very disappointed to see this market. There were only two boats on which two girls each were selling vegetables. There were very few vegetables on them, mostly fruits and flowers. There was only one buyer present. We were the only foreign buyers.

The vegetables and fruits were fresh but their prices were as high as the other regular shops in Vegania. Still we bought some vegetables and fruits so that they can be useful on the way tomorrow. When I sorted some fruits, the owner of the boat came and interrupted me - 'No self service. Leave it.'

I put the sorted fruits in the basket again. He himself sorted the fruits and vegetables and gave them to us. It was as if she did not like the fact that an Indian should touch her vegetables! I could clearly read the pride in his eyes.

Expensive Museum!

Nearby in a square is a museum by the name of Leonardo da Vinci, in which models of machines displayed in the paintings made by Leonardo are kept. A ticket is 8 euros. This ticket is very expensive for this small museum.

Trader's crooked instinct

The devious attitude of the Venetian merchant shown in Shakespeare's play 'A Merchant of Venice' is clearly visible in the merchants of Italy. At the airport…. Rupee to Euro and out in the market…. Rupees Euro! 200 rupees bottle of water at the airport, what is it! 640 Indian Rupees for a 13 km bus journey, what is it! 160 rupees to pee, what is it! Based on our experience of four days, we can say that Venetians seem to be more conservative, arrogant and money-hungry.

Black beggar's plea

African or American black youth was begging on a culvert. Its jeans and T-shirt also looked fine and the air bag kept near it was also of good quality. From the cap on the head to the shoes on the feet, everything seemed fine!

I found his pleading to be very artificial. He was probably uttering some words in Italian. Such a tough young man begging does not match the splendor of this city. The Italian women passing by also said some angry words to the young man in Italian language. His displeasure was being expressed in his face. It was still raining.

So the tourists were hiding in their places of residence. The whole city looked deserted. The streets were deserted and people enjoying wine, pizza and cigarettes sitting on chairs lying in the square were missing. We also returned to our service apartment.