Add to this that the guests receive no welcome, partly because, all the places being understaffed, no one can be spared for that friendly office, and partly because politeness is not a Venetian foible.

An immense interval then elapses before the lista, or bill of fare, is brought, partly because there is no waiter disengaged and partly because there seems to be a law in Venetian restaurants that one lista shall suffice for eight tables.
Then comes the struggle--to find anything new either to eat or drink.
The lista contains in print a large number of attractive things, but few are obtainable, for on an Italian menu print is nothing: it is only the written words that have any relevance.

The print is in Italian and German, the reason being that Italians, Germans, and Austrians are the only people who resort to restaurants.

The English and Americans eat in their hotels, en pension.

(In Venice, I might say, all foreigners are addressed first in German, except by the little boys in the streets whose one desire on earth is to direct you to S.Marco and be paid for their trouble.