23. Settembre 2011: Down By The Water

What a whirlwind weekend in Venice! It was such a packed three days that I will be writing one post per day and posting them as I finish them. So here is day one, expect two more.

We woke up at 5:45 this morning (that’s right, again before most of you were asleep across the ocean!) and ended up making it about a half hour before our bus was supposed to leave (better over-budgeting time than under-budgeting!). So we watched the sun rise above Florence until we finally boarded the bus and departed for Venice at 7:30. Four hours later we crossed the lagoon to Venice and boarded a private boat which took us to the neighboring island of Murano which is known for its glassblowing. Here we were given a glassblowing demonstration; he blew a vase then made a horse. They ease with which he handled the immeasurably hot molten glass so incredibly. I proudly remembered all of the glass pumpkins, bunnies, cups, bowls and plates at home that my dad has made. I found myself wishing that I could hear his commentary as I watched the demonstration, knowing that he would have much more to say about what was going on than the rushed Italian saleswoman. I imagined the conversation that he would have struck up with the glassblower if the glassblower spoke English about the various techniques and sciences of glassblowing. I hope that we can come back here together some day.

We viewed some of the most beautiful pieces of glass I have ever seen in my life and then wandering around the colorfully quaint canals of Murano. Along the way I found the quintessential Italian street performer who was playing the Godfather theme but switched to this tango as I started filming.

Then we hopped back on the boat and sailed to our hotel in Venice. A brief sit down and we were off again to the Palazzo Ducale. We walked most of the way but to quickly cross the Grand Canal we all boarded a traghetto—the cheapest way to ride on a naked gondola. It cost 50 cents to ride the gondola for thirty seconds across the canal but for 50 euro you could take a picture of the gondolier. I raised my eyebrow when he suggested this but he was serious! (Don’t worry, Mom, I didn’t take the picture).

Finally we arrived at the Piazza San Marco—the only Piazza in Venice—and witness the most illegal pigeon-feeding I have ever seen. It was quite disgusting to see people sit down to have pigeons sit on their shoulders and eat out of their hands. I mean, really, pigeons are just rats with wings. Now let’s think…what started the Plague and where did it start? Oh yeah! Venice! Yuck.

But after I gagged past the Piazza we entered the Palazzo Ducale where the Doge of Venice used to live (until the Plague…how interesting). The Palazzo had no furniture in it because each Doge was expected to bring his own furniture and when he died, whatever his family did not claim was up-for-grabs for any Venetian. However, the walls were covered in splendid fabrics, wooden and marble carving and faux-frescoes. There are no real frescoes in Venice because all of the water and humidity would have quickly ruined anything painted directly on to the plaster of the walls or ceilings. Most of the carvings and sculptural art were made out of wood for its lightness; too much marble or bronze would weigh down the building and remember, Venice is ultimately built on top of the floor of the sea and one wouldn’t want such glorious art to sink into the sea. We also walked through the Sala del Consiglio dei Dieci, the room where the pound of flesh would have been granted to Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. Then across the famous Bridge of Sighs, where prisoners condemned in the Sala del Consiglio would have seen their last light of day.

After going to jail we were set loose to explore Venice. I wandered; getting lost and then finding my way back amongst all of the shops and tourists. It was the best time I’ve ever had being lost. With all of the masks, the Murano glass, the sun reflecting off the water—everything sparkled. There is not enough space for me to post all of the pictures of masks and costumes that I passed but I encourage you to visit my facebook pictures to see them (as well as all of the colorful buildings and canals). I learned that one should not visit Venice for their gelato but here’s a tiny taste of the masks:

When I finally found my way back to the Piazza, our group visited the Basilica San Marco. We visited it quite late because the Basilica is owned by the city and our private tour had been double-booked with the Catholic mass. I have no idea how that might happen but…we entered eventually. There are no frescoes but if you took all of the mosaics off of the walls you would cover over an acre of ground. And a majority of these mosaics used actual gold leaf in the tiles. The church was made of marble and apparently it took “ship loads” of marble to build (I was in the back of the group and was shocked the first time I heard the director of our program say this! I misheard her the first time…). The best part of the visit was the private organ concert. The church is so huge that the organ echoed in a way that was both haunting and extremely spiritual. The music was coupled with a bit of a light show; the lights were dark when we first entered and as the music played on the lights came up in various parts of the Basilica until the entire church was lit. I was not allowed to take pictures inside the sanctuary but I did keep my camera in my bag and recorded the audio of part of the organ concert.

We returned to the hotel for a delicious meal of canolini (like lasagna), pollo (chicken…but pronounce both of the L’s; this isn’t Spanish, Allie), and ciocolotto torta (chocolate cake). And then I slept very very well.