Simplicity

Everyone says that living in Venice is "scomodo", literally, uncomfortable. There are no cars, few supermarkets, no strip mall-- or any malls for that matter. As I posted about before, moving anything that you cannot carry in your hands is a challenge. Housing is expensive, small, and old. So why do I find it so damn SIMPLE?!

I have a teeny tiny little apartment on the ground floor. My front door opens up right onto the street and all my windows face the street. I can just sit in in my house with the front door wide open and not worry about anything. I do this daily, while the cat wanders in and out as she pleases. I can walk to the supermarket, the tabacchi, the alimentari, the vaporetto (water bus), the panificio, the take-away pizza, the pasticceria, and the fruttivendolo all in two minutes. I can walk everywhere! Venice is a small city, and the farthest points form me are no more than A 30 minute walk through one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The water bus is always on time (no traffic back-ups!) and the city is one of the safest in the world. I feel quite secure walking around at 3 in the morning alone, and I am a fearful person. 8 year-olds walk to school by themselves or with friends.

When I get hit by island fever, I walk 5 minutes to the train station or 10 to the bus station. Padua trains leave every 30 minutes and take 30 minutes. Buses for Mestre leave every 5 minutes and take 10 minutes. I often go to Padua and Mestre, and less often to Treviso, Jesolo, and Verona.

Venice has its own beach, the Lido island, that is 30 minutes in vaporetto form my home. In an hour you are in the Dolomite mountains.

My monthly public transportation pass, which includes all vaporettos and all buses to the mainland costs 33 euro.

My life here is so simple, and it has to be the thing that I appreciate most about living in this city. I feel like I am living in small town America in the 1960s where the kids rode their bikes to their friends' houses and everyone went to the soda fountain and the local high school football games.

Of course I miss the convenience of America. I miss good take-out food, I miss huge multi-plex cinemas and I even miss shopping malls. I miss 24-hour supermarkets. I don't miss the creepy feeling of walking through that supermarket's parking lot at midnight. The small-town feel of Venice comes at that price, though, and I believe it is worth it.