The exercise:
Write about losing, being lost, Lost if you must. You get the idea.
Mine:
I'll feel very badly for the tourist map vendors in Venice if visitors ever figure out the real reason to go there. They would be out of business before they could say "arrivederci."
The only reason to visit Venice is, of course, to get lost. It took me a while to realize this, I was quite insistent at first on figuring out how I would get to where. But it didn't take lone for the city of canals to set me straight.
In my five days in Venice I don't think I took the same route twice when going from my hostel to Piazza San Marco. I don't think so, but I might have. I have no way to be sure.
I remember finding a gelato shop two hours after I got off the train that served After Eight mint flavored scoops. I love After Eight. It was heavenly. I never found that shop again and believe me I tried.
There is a joy in accepting getting lost, a fanatical optimism involved in laughing at a street name the fourth time you see it within ten minutes. I discovered these great little piazzas all over the city that I would never have seen if I'd managed to go from point A to point B in any kind of ordered manner. I saw buildings from every angle. I even almost fell into a canal once.
I only have one piece of advice to anyone going to Venice for the first time: leave the map in your room and go really see the city. You'll be amazed at the city you stumble across.
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