Canal water and boats are just as plentiful as the carless, tourist filled roads. The canals make the air pungent with the smell of fish and a hint of sewage--but that doesn't stop the overwhelming amount of tourists getting guided tours or wandering with maps at every turn. The venetians disregard the tourists, walking about their business in the narrow streets like the tourists were invisible. The golodiers were the only ones to give us much attention, shouting "gondola gondola" in their beautiful accent, alluring us to fill their wallets as we seek to experience all that Venice has to offer. Unfortunately, in the area of venice we stayed, the stores close very early, and the streets empty quickly, only leaving the young wandering tourists eager to have fun, and the locals watching sports and drinking beer at small bars.
In a conversation between Alessandro and the Hotel Messner receptionist, I watched a very angry venetian shouting at Alessandro, who was attempting to difuse a misunderstanding between a group of students and a water taxi service. Although I did not understand a work that was said, the dialogue was clear from the receptionists angry face and aggressive hand gestures, followed by Alessandro's assertuve but defensive body language. I could hear their tone of voice without understanding a word of Italian. Even in a heated argument, the language is charming and graceful.
If I were to tell a story about my time in Venice, I would tell about the Heineken Jammin' Festival that we went to. The first few lines would probably be...
"I've only been to one concert in my life so when people talked about going to one in Venice I was all for it. We saw a flyer about it hanging on a building in Florence and decided we'd check it out. We didn't even know where it was or what time or anything because we couldn't read Italian, so we tried to research it..."
Tiffany,
ReplyDeleteGood start to your blogging. You captured some description that is interesting, like "the venetians disregard the tourists, walking about the business in the narrow streets like the tourists were invisible."
You also picked a good scene - Italians arguing over a lot of money and who was responsible.
Some suggestions:
1. Pay more attention to technicals in writing. It is Venetians, capitalized. Same with Venice. You've dropped some words here - need to proof read. Take pride in your public writing; don't treat it like a text message.
2. Don't generalize. "Everything is expensive" is subjective. Add "everything is expensive to a college student on a budget" helps the reader understand your point of view. Venice has "overwhelming heat and humidity" is more accurate if you note it is July and 10 degrees F above the norm. Was the Hotel Messner receptionist really a Venetian? Hard to know for sure without interviewing him/her.
3. Think about the little things that help your reader "see" a scene. What did Alessandro's voice sound like? How many students were there? What was the argument really about?
Annie