Venice for the New Year

I’ve rented an apartment in Venice for the month of January.

My sister Rosie had turned to me last January as we walked into our hotel here and said, “You should rent an apartment in Venice for a month next year.” My first thought was, “You rent an apartment in Venice for a month next year." But silently I was warming to the idea within minutes, and by the next morning I’d resolved to rent an apartment in Venice for a month the following winter. So now it's the following winter and here I am.

I wanted to take possession of the place as early as possible on January 1, so I decided to fly in on December 31^st. That meant booking a hotel room for that one night. And that one night was also known as New Year’s Eve.

Well, I wound up booking two hotels on a non-refundable basis. Inadvertently, obviously. I’d had a chaotic few months in which I’d needed to book and cancel and book and cancel a lot of different travel scenarios and somehow forgot that I’d taken care of Venice plans early on. So, a few weeks out, I suddenly panicked that I hadn't reserved and would have noplace to stay. I checked my new fave hotel, the Nolinski, and saw it was 3,000 euro for the night because it was in high demand for NYE. Rattled, I quickly found what looked like a very nice place called Palazzo Veneziano for 527 euro, non-refundable. I hit the "reserve" button and exhaled .

Then a funny thing happened just days before my departure. I started getting emails from a place called Hotel Splendid, saying they looked forward to welcoming me soon. I ignored several, muttering to myself about these new forms of phishing. Finally, when the fourth email came, I checked my “trip info” history.

And there it was. I’d booked that hotel long before and forgotten about it. 521 euro. Non-refundable.

So now here I was with two expensive, non-refundable reservations for the same night.

I threw myself on the mercy of the hotels. I wrote that I'd had a very confusing few months (because surely that would get them). That it was an honest mistake. That it was a costly mistake for me! That surely they'd have no trouble filling the room. Would they show mercy?

They would not.

What could I do? I figured I’d show up at both and choose which I liked. Until…

En route to Venice, I landed in Zurich to a call from the Palazzo Veneziano saying they would refund my money after all if I still wished it. Moreover, they would pay for my transfer from the airport to the other hotel. Now, I realize their magnanimity could not have been entirely altruistic. In all likelihood, the manager had realized he could let the room at the last minute for about five times what I was paying. Hence my sudden treatment as a golden goose. Nevertheless, the behavior on the part of that hotel was engaging and professional, even courtly. I was impressed.

I was not so much impressed with the Hotel Splendid, as it turned out, whose desk staff was far less winning and whose 500+ euro room was, while nicely appointed, laughably small.

I tell you all this because I believe Palazzo Veneziano has earned status as a must-stay in the future. More on that after I've seen it in person. Hotel Splendid, however, falls short of its name.

Meanwhile, it was...

New Year’s Eve in Venice!

And the fireworks over the water were spectacular. (So were the crowds.***) I got some decent shots of the drama in the sky interspersed with tasteful footage of my feet and the backs of people’s heads.

(I'll cobble all that together into a short film called Heads Up, Humanity! It'll be a silent, abstruse, and altogether bewildering cine-commentary on our times that'll leave you feeling like you've missed the point. Look for it in indie theaters come summer.)

For now, here's a smattering of the pyrotechnics, which included shapes and colors I'd never before seen launched into the firmament. The show was so visually rich that my senses were a little overwhelmed. I actually got tears in my eyes.

Don't miss the all-white finale in the videos at bottom.

***Erratum: I've said in earlier posts that January and February in Venice are a real discovery because the crowds are missing. Let me edit that a bit to say that Venice empties out after the Feast of the Epiphany, which this year falls on January 6th. Until then, there are very dense crowds of Italian families visiting Venice for the Christmas break. That means families walking five or six abreast with strollers, lots of little kids who don't want to be there, dogs who seem perfectly happy to be there, parents who gather their broods 'round them on bridges and walkways while they consult about where to go next. It is, in fact, shockingly crowded and, in some places, almost impassable. At times impossible, too, but I do mean impassable there.

{Parting thought}

2026 Pet Peeve #1: Hand-holders

By this I mean people who insist on holding hands while they walk in tight crowds. I’m not talking about parents holding children’s hands. I’m talking about full-grown adults whose insistence on keeping their extremities linked creates unnecessary contortions in the collective body of humanity trying to roll through the streets. Guys, please. For pity's sake, let go! Your urgent love -- clearly the greatest the world has ever known -- should survive that cruel cleavage for a few blessed bloody minutes.

That out of my system, Happy New Year and Buon Anno!