The Romance of Venice

60,000 Kisses. That was what was supposed to happen in St.  Mark's Square at midnight this New Year's Eve. Instead, there were 60,000 projectiles tossed into the air: bottles, fireworks, and other debris. It was another triumph of hope over experience, as Johnson said of second marriages. Venice has not learned that you cannot put 60,000 drunk young (mostly men) people in a confined area. It was billed as the Night of Love. Hah! Take a look at the photo and ask yourself, "Is this were I wish to be on New Year's?" Stupid rock music, dumb young Italian alcoholics with strong contingents from Britain and you get a quasi-criminal mess. Of course, some innocent people, naìve tourists, and impractical idealists went to S Marco (a happening?) and got trapped. It is impossible to escape the crowd once so ensnared, sort of like being at the front (or is it rear?) of a retreating Italian army. Rivers of urine, garbage, broken glass, bedlam-like noise, no escape, hostility abounding, a Bosch painting updated. A beautiful Square despoiled. Congratulations, Venice.