5/25/12 Venice, be Nice

                The breakfast this morning was rather confusing.  Me and my roommate headed down at 7, the time we were told breakfast would be at.  As soon as we got to the main restaurant our maestro told us that the breakfast was supposed to be at 7:45 and in one of the secondary restaurant.  Well, of course I wait until the time for food, but find that the place is locked up.  So as I peek at each restaurant, and sure enough, the first place I went to was the one place I was supposed to eat at.  As it turns out, the person working at the front desk before 7:30 was a complete idiot.

                Anyways, these breakfasts just get progressively worse we get further out.  Our guide says “These Northern Italians, hard workers, but a-so stingy.  You take a picture of the breakfast you have in Rome, and eat it, will fill you up better.”

                We make our way back to Venezia, this time dressed and prepared for the hot, humid weather.  We waste no time heading to the church we are going to perform at later, Chiesa di Santa Maria dei Miracoli, and drop off our costumes.  So the rest of the day (up to the performance) is to get lot in Venice.  The first thing I do is head over to the ATM and finally withdraw money, because it was payday.  The girls decided to have a girl day and go shopping.  Ironically we all wind out at the same lunch spot, and some of the girls decided they weren’t up for the girls day. 

View off the Rialto

               So, our now reformed group wandered around Venezia trying to find the Rialto Bridge.  Flavio made it sound so easy, “Go straight that way *whistle noise* turn right, bam!”  No, instead we got lost.  But that was ok.  There were opera hawkers handing out fliers for a show that night, and we found a local charcoal artist, whom I bought a picture from because she was actually really talented.

                Finally we headed over to a local tourist info spot, and shell out 3 euro to get a map.  Of course, upon examining the map, we find out that the directions we were given were backwards; it was straight on then directly right.  So away we go, stopping along the way for some yummy green apple and lemon gelato (and a less satisfactory Apersol Sprtiz).  We finally make it to the Rialto Bridge where the view was quaint, and the markets aplenty.  There were also a few more mask shops around which I took plenty of time to peruse their wares.  In the second mask shop the clerk was much more aggressive about her sale- by actually talking to me and what I’m looking for.  My checklist- 1)green 2) with sheet music on it 3) made in Venice, not China.  Well, she finds one for me, a girl face, but other than that exactly what I’m looking for (and I’m fairly certain they just made the masks in the room upstairs, but hey, I like it).  Its partial imperfections are great to me, but only because I like things that are perfectly imperfect.

                After the mask shop we head up to the end of the bridge, another line of shops of course was in store.  We round the corner trying to stray off the beaten path a little. To the far left we find a specialty shop that sells vinegar, wine oil, spirits and the like.  One of us purchases some wine then we find a very odd type coffee shop.  Now, it would fit in right in America, but in Italy, it was rather corporate and “Starbuck-esque.”

                Next we headed back up the Rialto Bridge to meet back up to the rendezvous point by St. Mark’s, but along the way I decided I needed one last slice of real Italian pizza, best slice I ever had.

                Now meeting back at St. Mark’s the choir heads to our final concert in Italy.  The church was resonant, and illuminated by the evening sunlight.  The audience was remarkably grateful and active throughout the concert.  I believe it was our best concert on the tour.

Organ from inside the church

               We ended our stay in Venice with some pizza for dinner, and purchasing real Tuscan wine for 2 euro.  Then a couple people in our group threw down with our tour guide in a card game known as Briscolla (very popular in Italy).  Our guide beat them, badly.  So it goes, he put on a good poker face.

                With one last boat ride, we bid farewell to Venice.  The hotel that night I spent most of the time looking for a way to open the wine I bought while not having a corkscrew.  Well, after an hour or so I head to the bar to see if they would open it for me free of charge.  Of course they did, but while the bartender was uncorking, a man at the bar started hitting on me, asking if, “I was buying some champaign for a lover.”  His English wasn’t that good, though, he still had that stereotypical gay lisp.

                Well, I head back up to my room where me and my friends pass the wine bottle around until it’s all drunk (we had no glasses…).  After the wine, we all head to bed.

5/24/12 To Venice, my Love

        Another early morning when I wake up at 6am.  We have quite a full docket for Venice today, so must be on the bus early and beeline it to our destination.

        Like always, the bus ride feels longer than it is, but not without a wonderful view of the countryside.  I look at to see the hills of Tuscany flatten out into farmland.  I also notice that beautiful flowers blossom along the area like weeds, I wonder why we don't have nice looking weeds like these back home.  We make a pit stop and I decide to pick some of these flowers for myself and dry them in my journal.  I will say that updating a journal and driving this road is difficult since it goes through a great many tunnels that screw your vision up.

View from the connecting bridge

        The drive goes about the same as always, but coming to Venice is something of an oddity.  The outlying city that surrounds Venice proper is an industrialized, near eastern European looking city-very grey, very dull, and ontop of a less than ideal terrain.  Then you enter the bridge that connects to Venezia proper.  The water that streams along, the sight of a city on the horizon and ships coming to dock, the town is a wonderful and alien place to me.
   
        The city of Venezia is full of fantastic history.  The city itself was founded when local farm villages were tired of being ransacked by Barbarian hordes some 1800 years ago.  So they fled to the marshlands to found new villages.  Well, sand doesn't make good foundations, so they needed to improvise.  They used a technique of combining local clays and sediments with the local woods to create pylons that were almost as strong as cement.  They would then drive these pylons into the ground and create an impromptu foundation.  But still, the buildings must be constructed lightly or else they will sink into the bog.

        Now, the city is also home to a few famous individuals.  The Doges are from this area, and since Venezia was the world's leading trade capitol for a few hundred years, that is a big deal.  Amerigo Vespucci, that man who funded Christopher Columbus, was also from here.  St. Mark's Cathedral is in Venice as well.

        "They" tell you (in this case every Italian that talked to me about Venice) that Venezia is a city of impossibilities coming true.  It was a city made by farmers on water, a city that takes your emotions and magnifies them and betters them, a city of romance and mystery.  I can say, without going into great detail, that I find this to be absolutely true.

Da Boat

        We make our way from the bus stop to the boat docks.  Here we board onto our GT water cruiser, woohoo!  Well, we made our way up the main split between the islands- a large highway type canal.  It is interesting to watch this city zoom by, with its seaside churches and city scape that is the same level as the water.   Even crazier to think is that this city is made up of hundreds of tiny islands connected by hundreds of tiny bridges, truly a city that was made out of impossibility.

Inside the Doge's Palace grounds

        We head to St. Mark's Piazza, to a nearby storage place so we can stash our costumes and excess baggage.  The square is wide, surrounded by the Doge's palace, St. Mark's, and numerous museums.  We are granted a few hours to "get lost" in Venezia.  Which, with my current group, meant finding shops and that didn't get us very far into the city.

        When it comes to the shops in Venice, there are three main things they sell there: 1) Glass goods (the Murano Glass factory is there, and for every piece of fine glass they sell, there is an entire vendor hocking knockoffs) 2) Masks (The Carnival of Venice, but these are a great souveneir and cheap too! Locally made as well) and 3) Art supplies (a lot of fantastic artists and art museums exist in this city).

View, from the bridge- of-a SIGHS

        We head back to our spot outside of the Piazza by the docks, where we meet our next tour guide.  I didn't actually get her name, but there is a quote I will never live down because she said it so many damn times- "The Bridge; of-a SIGHS."  Well, to get to that quote, I should explain the story.  We entered into the tour of the Doge's Palace.  The building stands out to me as being unique in that it is 1) The first true Baroque building we've encountered, 2) Made out of wood, yet still very Roman, and 3) Impressive given its layout.  In any case, I am not too impressed with the museum of the building itself, only because the time of Venice's worldpower was before America, so I have a hard time grasping its influence and impact on the world.  There is some cool clockwork and art within the building which made it fantastic, as well, as our tour guide kept saying, the bridge, of-a SIGHS- don't get any romantic ideas.

        Then we had a quick tour of the inside of St. Mark's.  This building is proof that vanity is a sin.  It is made entirely out of marble with gold flecked mosiacs for the ceiling.  All this weight has caused the church to start to sink, so careful restorations are being done to try an preserve this landmark.  I will say, it is a rogue church in the Vatican's eyes.  As you enter, there is a Greek Cross hanging from the ceiling, and the layout and decoration of the church is very much Greek Orthodox.  This Duomo was built before St. Peter's, and so was allowed this leeway by the Vatican.  However, even the officials from Mark's are a little rogueish as well.

Dude making a 200 euro vase in 5 minutes

        Well, after our free time is spent meandering and observing the locals, we head back to our rendezvous point outside of St. Mark's.  From here, we headed to the Murano Glass factory for a tour and demonstration.  Talk about cool too! Glass blowing, in my humble opinion, is a very understated artform that is as practical as it is beautiful.   We are taken to a demonstration room right inside the entry way.  Here we watch a middle aged man blow a dumpy ball of glass into a beautiful vase within 5 minutes- and judging by how much the vases inside were, it would have probably sold for around 200 euro.  Then after the demonstration, we are admitted into the shop area.  Here we are given another salespitch and demonstration about the quality of the glass.  I will admit, the product they sell is damn worth the price- if you like gold on everything.  Still, it was how I imagined Charlie always felt when walking into Wonka's chocolate factory- bright tasty colors in fun shapes bouncing everywhere.
     
        We head to dinner after the demonstration, curving along the back alleys until Flavio finds the place he knows and made reservations for.  The place is rather large for Italy (and Venice as well).  They serve us a tasty (meat free) lasagna for our first course.  For our second course we have roast duck.  I had never had duck before that tasted this good, and I somehow wound out with 5 peoples helpings (guess not a lot of people were fans).  And for dessert, delicious raspberry gelato!

        We hopped onto the boat, to get back to the bus, and headed back to our hotel.  There, we watched a thunderstorm roll over us from the balcony we had attached to our room.  Overall, a great way to end a day in a city as wonderful as Venice.