Understanding the beauty is totally different than understanding the beast. Once you have a preconception, it is very hard to remove the inoculated idea from the back of your mind. Most of the time, these preconceptions are born from jealousy, or just simply as a reason of personal denial. One should not have any preconception until one’s own eyes and heart are giving the whole picture to the brain to process the reality. And even then, we still have no guarantee the brain will process correctly the information, but we should hope for better.

Rumors that the canals in Venice are actually stinking came to me from different directions, but my refusal to believe or to think about this drove me to the idea that probably the smell was from some other time, season, or even space. And so it was. I was actually amazed to notice that even though most of the walls at the contact with water were slimy, with more or less green hanging weed, the surroundings were not smelly at all, even with the heavy heat I felt on my head from the sunny, and a little bit too hot Italian Sun.

The words can only suggest the true and exhilarated experience and most of the time they do an injustice to the actual moment. Losing myself in the hundreds of tiny and narrow alleys, crossing all sorts of piazzas or cute bridges looked more like a huge maze I have always wanted to play in. I could feel like a child again. No matter if I turned to the left or to the right, I was still heading to the right direction. One can wish to get lost, running away from the cruel reality, to just cross the border of a fairy tale city… and so, I just did.

Continuing to walk, I just didn’t realize how fast I was walking. My eyes were wandering on each house I was passing by, my brain mesmerized by the loveliness of the place that I just didn’t realize I wasn’t walking anymore, I was almost running, wanting to capture every little corner of each house, every stone of each little bridge, and every little shadow of every single statue. Little or big piazzas were emerging once in a while, all houses seemed deserted if it was not for the flowers in the windows or hanging clothes from window to window. I wanted to breathe more air than normal, I wanted to get the warm, salty breeze getting into my skin, I wanted to identify myself with the place, with the unique moment. I have not realized how the tiny and insignificant things are actually making the big and the great.

Of course, I wanted to absorb all nanoparticles from surrounding. And when I had thought I was truly lost, I started seeing more people and souvenir stores, and suddenly realized I was in Piazza San Marco. The grandeur and wideness of the piazza has transported me to another time, even though the surrounding and noisy crowd belonged to the real world I had just forgotten about.

Even one could see the traditional concept of the old community is still alive somewhere between the empty alleys and the beautiful pots with flowers hanging from the deserted windows, I was not really conscious about the old and unique inheritance that was surrounding me until my eyes dropped on the old St Mark Basilica, where one can feed the doves while waiting in line for a free visit.

The second iconic building in Venice, Palazzo Ducale – Doge’s Palace – standing proud as a historical witness over the years was a refresher for my brain with its intrinsic and elaborate decorations, symbols and sculptures. Buying a city pass is totally debatable, based on the tourist preferences, however, only skipping the Doge’s Palace line was well worth it from my personal experience. If it was not for the pass, I might have not visited Museo Correr, but then I found this was my chance to learn a little about Venice history.

The Clock Tower, the Campanile, Museo Correr are only few of the highlights of Venice, and I didn’t miss them either. The renowned Bridge of Sights or Rialto Bridge as well.

Even though the transportation in Venice might scare some timid riders, this is definitely not a stopper for traveling between mainland and the island, if deciding to find inland accommodation.

Riding gondolas didn’t attract me at the time, I think one really need a nerve nowadays, to get into a racing place such as Venetian waters.

But what could be more rewarding than a ride on the Grand Canal?

The vaporetto was definitely my choice: for a daily fee, we could visit also Murano and Burano Islands during the day, while at the evening time, we had nothing else to do than enjoying the view, the concept and the feeling of these sinuous waters and sensational lands.

Little paradises arising from time to time to enchant our eyes were mixing with colors of the place, while the sunset shades were gossiping fantasy’s stories.

And when the night time came, and the happy silence took place, the wind start blowing the whispers of love, the light of candles and the reflection of a magical world.

Now, when I look behind, how I’ve been running giddily through all the Venetian alleys, smelling out the scent of the places, blending with the moment, I realized how selfish I’ve been the whole time. I didn’t have time for any thoughts, for any excuse, or any comments. I have collected and gathered everything, only for myself. Because no one and nothing is offered for free. We must know what we want; we need to know to take it when it’s coming handy, and to enjoy the moment. It’s time to learn that the life, This Life, is what it is, and we need to identify ourselves with the moment, and to learn to live each moment in its own unique way.