After dark fell, those giant cruise ships cruised at sea instead of entering the Venetian canals.
First, Venice was not as colorful at night as it was during the day. Second, perhaps they feared poor visibility and colliding with those ancient buildings.
With modern technology, those liners would not sink like the Titanic, but those old buildings truly could not withstand such an impact.
Watching the masked people in the streets, Pomona could not help thinking of the Venetians she had met at the Doge's Palace that day. Quite a few of them wanted independence from Italy.
Rome's bureaucrats thought only of the jobs and tax revenue generated by tourism, with no regard for whether Venice lived or died. As for the Moses Project meant to stop the floods, it was utterly meaningless. 4.5 billion euros was no small sum. Given the corruption that often arose under "democratic" systems during the construction of major projects such as the Suez Canal and Panama Canal, no one knew how many parasites that money, supposedly meant to "save lives," would end up feeding.
Since Venice could no longer be saved and was bound to sink beneath the sea, that money would be better spent buying real estate elsewhere.
This bizarre logic was still a kind of logic. The modern education system was about "survival of the fittest." Teachers and parents cared more about test scores, without teaching the "failures" how to face hardship and defeat.
Lucius was that sort of parent. He was always saying Draco could not even outperform a Muggle girl. That was why Draco had been so miserable in his sixth year. Still inexperienced in the world, he had to bear pressures that even adults might not have been able to endure.
If Hermione Granger had not entered Hogwarts, perhaps