On Vertigo in Venice

For those of you who have been following this blog, you know what a wonderful trip we had to Venice.  What may not be apparent in the reports thus far is the vertigo that attacked me the first night after arrival.

Vertigo is an interesting phenomenon- at least from my perspective a few months hence.  While you are experiencing vertigo your world tilts crazily, spinning out of control, often causing a sense of nausea and always accompanied by a feeling of disorientation.  The vertigo that attacked me, first time ever, made its presence known in the middle of our first night in Venice. As I groped my way to the bathroom that first morning, holding on to the walls for a sense of stability I was sure that our vacation had gone up in smoke.

In retrospect, Venice is a most interesting city in which to experience vertigo.  In fact, I believe, all first time visitors experience a certain amount of disorientation that comes with finding canals instead of streets, and waterbuses instead of motorized vehicles with wheels.  My vertigo was just a stronger case in point.

 Having vertigo in Venice actually contributed to our goal of slow travel.  We decided to avoid indoor buildings, museum and churches in those first few days, since that would encourage me to move my head in ways that were likely to bring on the horrible spinning sensations.  That means that the classic tourist sites of: the Basilica of San Marco and the Doge’s palace were on the “No” list.  That meant that we were free to spend our first few days in the glorious outdoors, enjoying the islands that dot the Venice harbor, and sport interesting houses and even more interesting crafts.  Lace making, for example.  Have you ever spent anytime considering the soon to be lost art of lace making?  The island of Burano, a 45 minute boat ride away from the main island of Venice not only sports the only lace museum in the world, but samples of intricate lace.  Just stopping to consider how much time and craft go in to this lost art is mind boggling, and humbling.

Our slow outdoor travels included long boat rides on vaporettas.  On the waterbus the fact that I was feeling unsteady was absolutely normal.  The boat was rocking .  Everybody was feeling unsteady. So was I.   We saw the sunrise and sunset over our lagoon, watching from either our apartment window, or from yet another vaporetto.  Vertigo also meant that I had to hang on to Mike tightly, so we walked through Venice arm in arm for a week.  Very cuddly.  While vertigo is not recommended it certainly did not ruin our vacation, and in many ways enhanced it.