Venice at night

I'm spending my last Italian night in Venice and after being away from here for almost 2 weeks, I had forgotten how beautiful it was! However, it is much colder here than Rome. Tonight was about 45 degrees. Soo brrrr that at the train station, a nice old Italian man and I bonded over saying "freddo" at the same time, meaning "cold."
At the end of my train ride, a young man started talking to me in Italian. He soon switched to English when he noticed my blank stare. Clemente spoke superb English. 30 years old, lives with his dad in Mestre (land area of Venice), and went to NYC once by himself because there was a huge airfare sale.
Clemente asked to show me around Venice. At first I hesitated at this stranger's gesture, then I took a leap of faith and went with it. I set off our journey by mentioning my made-up "husband.". He was intrigued and began asking many detailed questions ("How long have you been married?" "Where did you get married?" "When do you want kids?"). I have to say, I have a pretty solid made-up marriage!
Clemente showed me some of the cool areas, such as "Campo Santa Margarita" where the college kids flooded the streets on a Tuesday school night! Then we took the water bus around with some amazing night views of the city. During our ride, Clemente explained to me his impression of Romans vs. Venetians. His views were exactly as Aziz described: Venetians are hard-working and money-driven. Conservative in nature and culturally-protective. Romans are seen as wild, liberal, not money-driven but willing to spend money, welcoming of immigrants and generally "crazy." We ended our journey with a picture together and an invite to find him on Facebook. I politely nodded knowing that that would never happen. Nonetheless, it was a very enjoyable tour!

Lunch break at work. In Italy.

I was fortunate enough to be linked up with my friends Beth and Ruph's friend, Aziz. He works at FAO ( Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) in Rome and was nice enough to treat me to lunch at FAO's fantastic cafeteria and chat about Rome.
I was particularly impressed with the grill section and opted to get a freshly cooked salmon with a side of caprese.
Aziz then showed me the beautiful view from the building's terrace that showcased the city in a 180 degree view.
Some interesting things we discussed:
- mostly everyone owns a car (even the poor ones)
- newcomers and young people like to live in the city, but people with families tend to live on the outskirts (just like Manhattan)
- Rome operates as a big city but somethings don't function like they should, such as public transportation and the post office
- there are so many side streets with statues and fountains that the best way to discover them is to get lost walking around. Aziz has been in Rome for 12 years and he's still discovering new streets!
- there's a distinct cultural difference between northern (Venetians) and southern (Romans) Italians. Romans view Venetians as conservative, formal, square, and close-minded. Somewhat "countryside." Northerners view Romans as crazy, aggressive, loud and liberal.
I'm going to have to take my new found knowledge with me when I return to Venice and see if it is true!