Day Eight- Venice redub

Today's post is the last one before I get back to where I started doing this during the trip. I have been posting these (some with a few different photos) on my blog page, in case you need to refill, or direct someone who isn't on facebook to them. I'll continue to repost the old ones there so that they are in sequential order until I have the whole trip up. Then god only knows what I'll do with myself (like maybe get some work done?!) 

I guess living in Venice your whole life will do this to you

Becoming very apparent that two days is nowhere near enough time to take in Venice; a week seems more like a necessary minimum. We don't have a week, so we'll just try to absorb as much as possible and vow to return for a longer visit. Got up and had a nice breakfast with our own espresso maker and some wheat free bread I bought at a German bakery across the street from our pad. Little did I know it would be the last time I saw that in Italy, or I would have packed a bag full of it for later. It was good! 

Nice window on the way to the piazza. Starting to know my way around....not!

After hanging our freshly laundered clothes on the line in the courtyard, we headed back to the Piazza, the path already becoming clearer in my head as I began to recognize landmarks. Stopped again to lick the windows of the shoe store and wonder why I wasn't born in that category of human- I'm certainly one who would appreciate $1,000 shoes! The handmade suits also have been calling to me through the store windows. "Steve, come and wear me!" 

Everything at the Palazzo Ducale is X-Large

But I digress. Our first destination on this fine and sultry day was the Palazzo Ducale (or Doge's Palace,) a large agglomeration of building that goes back to the 9th century, though most of it was built around the 15th and 16th centuries, while maintaining a Gothic style that originated in the 14th century. Ducal does indeed describe this place (or perhaps this place describes ducal) with extra large rooms that are somewhat dark and foreboding, but also regal in their gold and ornamented ceilings and walls. They have good descriptions in each room of the function; here is where one entered to be seen by the court, here is where the accused sat before sentencing, etc. Definitely put the fear of god in you! Then you descend to the prison via the so-called "Bridge of Sighs". Ugh! I think I decided on this trip that I really don't enjoy visiting dungeons- it is much too sad to imagine those who spent time in these cold dark places.

 After recovering from that area you enter the Chamber of the Great Council, a gigantic room made to seat up to 2,000 of the local nobility. It faces the lagoon with large open windows to keep it moderate, but it is easy to imagine the good nobles snoozing in their chairs as some discussion of trivia droned on from the raised platform where the Doges would hold forth, backed up by Tintoretto's "Paradiso", the longest oil painting in the world. All around the room, twinned portraits of the Doges glare down from history, including poor Marin Faliero, who in 1355 attempted a coup, and was punished by becoming an "unperson", his name wiped off the record books and his portrait nothing but a black cloth. Oh yeah, he was also beheaded.

Council of the Great Council at the Doge's Palace

After the Palazzo we decided to go for the trifecta, entering into the Basilica di San Marco, which is just next door. Originally the Doges' church, this crazy quilt Byzantine style building has bits of materials from all over, a fitting tribute to Venice's position as gateway to the Eastern provinces and trade center. Colored marbles adorn the entry, and the interior is bathed in golden light from the multiple mosaics that cover the vaults. Some of the mosaics go back to before the church was built, while others were designed by famous painters such as Veronese, Tintoretto, and Titian. The overall effect is dazzling- like being inside a kind of jewel box. There are all kinds of exotic marbles in columns and book matched panels, many of them brought from foreign lands or prized off of antique sites. 

Columns in the Basilica of San Marco were brought from all over .

We then revisited the cafe in the Museo Correr (ok- it was partly due to my desire to take more photos of it- I had the camera set wrong when I was there the day before.) Then we stayed in the arcades and found the Caffe Florian, where I could have spent three times as much for a coffee, but been surrounded by a painted mirror space that is unequaled anywhere. They politely ignored me as I snapped away, but I kind of felt like we should have popped for it, even though it would have been ridiculously expensive! 

Mural in Caffe Florian, a Venetian institution.

We then decided it was nap time and headed back to our little cabana, where the laundry was all dry and toasty. We emerged again at dusk for one more look at the Piazza and a gelato, vowing that we will come back to explore more of it another time. We didn't even get to see the Biennale, which is mostly down in the southern part of town, although what parts we did see in installations around town were less than impressive, if not downright blocking the view! Don't get me wrong, I am not categorically against contemporary art, it's just that I look for art that is a balance of thought and craft, and most of what I see today has (way) too much of the former and not enough of the latter. 

I guess this wraps up my monologue on the trip we took this summer- hope I'll be able to do it again soon! 

Day Seven- Venezia!

Welcome to crazy town! After the peaceful vibe of VIcenza, Venice is like Toon Town, wall to wall tourists wandering with map in hand (looking desperately for the WC), souvenir shops hawking Chinese-made "Venetian" commedia dell'arte masks, and canals full of boats and swooning couples. That said, it's still amazing, and the historical aspects, while somewhat shrouded by the commercial frenzy of summer, still manages to peek through and impress. 

Gondola rides at midday are a bad idea- wait until night, or at least twilight.

Arrived at the train station around one, and instead of using the directions to our place that they had given us, which started instead from the bus station (I'm not going to backtrack 500 yds to start where they tell me to!) I used Google maps to locate our place and headed out confidently. The heat had begun to settle in, so we hugged the shadows as we made our way along the canals and bridges. At some point, I realized we were off track and not finding the apartment, so I got out the directions from the owners as Marianne glowered at me. As I later found out, even Google Maps can't navigate Venice- the address of the place was totally misplaced on their database. In any case, we did find it after a bit of renavigation, and were met there by a very friendly woman who took us up to see the place. It was a lovely little apartment on the third floor, way more space than we actually needed, with a kitchen, and most importantly, a washing machine! We packed really lightly for this trip; one carry-on bag each, and not even a big carry-on, so our clothes needed a refresher about once a week.

This kind of street sign was of no use in finding our place, but it was  a nice distraction.

After putting a load in and settling in for a while, we headed down to find the Piazza San Marco. On the way to the Ponte Rialto (the absolute tourist nexus of the entire island) we passed by some more authentic shops, including a shoe store that made me drool. Hand made shoes for men and women, classic styles that looked beautifully crafted and so comfortable. After briefly taking in the sight of the Grand Canal from the bridge, we navigated the crazy streets until we found ourselves, quite by accident, at the entry to the Piazza and the site I had in mind to begin with, the Museo Correr. 

Coffee shop at the Museo Correr has neo-Pompeiian murals by Francesco Hayez. You can sit here and have a snack overlooking the piazza, even if you're not going into the museum. 

The museum was started in 1836 by Teodoro Correr, a wealthy Venetian who collected all kinds of art during a low point in Venice's history, when many families were selling off parts of their collections. While the collection does have quite a few seminal pieces in it, I was much more interested in the building, a Neo-Classical extravaganza from the period when Napoleon was the nominal ruler of the area. The decoration of the rooms is rich and dense, with the French influence quite evident. As usual, the damned photo ban was in effect, but it was not too hard to avoid detection by the mostly bored looking guards who looked out the windows and semi-snoozed in chairs. The windows were open to the lagoon, and the breeze in the rooms made it a pleasant place to stay out of the heat. Room after room of spectacular ornament (that gets hardly a mention in the tour guides!) culminating in the library, a spectacular room that was marred only by some piece of art from the Biennale that would have served better as easels for something deserving. 

The cartographic library in the Correr Museum has amazing wall decoration and gorgeous maps- unfortunately impeded by someone's idea of "art". I'm sorry, but these pieces were just so simplistic- they belonged at a local art fair, not part of the Venice Biennale! Just my opinion.

We stayed until it was closing time (Marianne seemed a bit relieved- I could have stayed there all night!) and then we went out into the piazza to take in the scene. By now it was starting to get cooler, and the crowds were building all around the shady areas. We looked at the exterior of the basilica, with its crazy quilt collection of colored marbles, then went down by the water to look at Palladio's church across the water (with a ridiculous contemporary sculpture sitting next to it). The criss crossing water traffic looks so chaotic and Italian- I'd be amazed if they don't have regular smash ups out there. All across the piazza, the itinerant immigrant sellers of cheap toys were desperately trying to gain our attention by waving some item and entreating us to buy. "Sorry!" It's strange; we noticed that from one end of Italy to the other, they all seem to have the same items: a little silicone blob that gets thrown down to make a big splat (and then regather itself) and by night, a little glowing projectile that they launch with a rubber band, whence it deploys some kind of rotor to descend to the unsuspecting heads of passers by. Have to watch out for those! And of course whenever it begins to rain, they seem to have a hidden supply of cheap umbrellas nearby that suddenly materialize. We were thankful for that in Florence, when we had a sudden downpour after a museum visit. 

Palladio's Il Redentore church on the lagoon of Venice, also beset by contemporary "art". WTF,

 people?

We meandered back at twilight, noting how much better it looks under half light, when shadows are long and cover a multitude of sins. Even the tsotchkes look better at night!