Goodbye venezia- and Paris is White

I could not say goodbye to Venezia and not show you a picture of masks- they are everywhere, many of them made in places other than Venice- yet they, and the glass are amongst  the main tourist objects for sale. One thing you notice when you travel how much the same everything is everywhere-  it is really difficult to point to any objects of difference in different places- it seems culture has become commodified into the  well known brands- and every city boasts brands form the highflying high profile ones to the more mundane ones for the budget conscious. Venice has masks and glass and many of the store keepers are anxious to point out that their objects are authenttic and  not produced in china like similar objects in other stores.

Even the graffiti on the  old house entry from a canal boasts a universality which suggests hiphop rather than Casanova, Byron and any other number of latin lovers who dashed around the canals of venezia in search of romance and  secret encounters.

Such was Venice- yes it was still lovely and cold. And then we came back to a white Paris- it is blanketed in snow with more forecast.