We left Florence early Friday morning and caught a train that brought us to Venice in a little over 2 hours. Then we hopped on a beautiful wooden boat to take a water tour and stop of to see a glass blowing demo. It was like being in a move, sprawled out bellow deck with out faces pressed to the windows drinking in the beautiful sites of the city. Just like the rest of Italy that I have seen, all the buildings are old with faded color's or crumbling brick that just create such a beautiful environment to explore and live in.
The glass blowing demonstration was short and fast (because of how fast they have to work with the glass as it cools) It is quiet an art (that I could stick around for 20 years and learn if I so desired) that takes sand, and melts in into blobs that gets pulled and hollowed out and colored into beautiful creations. Katie, Megan, Anicka and I greatly enjoyed wandering in and out of shops (stealing pictures of the beautiful creations) and admiring all the handy work.
After the glass blowing demonstrations we toured around the canal a bit more on the boat (eating sack lunches) until we got to our hotel (Hotel Messner) which once again looked like it belonged in a romantic comedy. I roomed with Anicka and Megan and we had a small room, tucked in the back of the hotel away from everyone else. It had rich red walls with gold print on them, two huge windows that over looked a small court yard, a couch and a giant bed (both which were cloaked in red and gold covers that matched the walls.) There was a white armor in the corner, and a desk next to the small bathroom. It was the perfect size for three girls to just crash in at the end of a day of adventures.
That evening we toured the Piazza San Marco, Palazzo Ducale, and San Marco's Basilica. Piazza San Marco is the only real piazza in Venice, all the other open areas are called campos. In the Palazzo Ducal we split into two groups lead by Jodi and Professor Solesberg to tour the grand palace. Here we compared Venice to Sienna. Sienna was a more democratic style government where Venice was more oligarchy based thus making it more stable. Sienna was also build with high walls that made it look more like a fortress where Venice, surrounded by water, was inhabited for the natural protection the canals gave it. This being said the architecture of the Palazzo Ducal in Venice has much more open architecture (arches and columns with give it a lacy look.)
We toured San Marco's Basilica at night, privately. We were let in after mass to the mostly dark cathedral where they proceeded to completely shut off all of the lights, making us sit in the dark for a while until the bells started to toll. As the bells started to ring, the lights slowly came on illuminating the gold leaf mosaic ceilings. It was an absolutely beautiful and haunting experience that was so incredibly moving.
After that we headed back to our hotel for a late dinner of pasta in a white sauce with vegetables, and a grilled fish with potatoes and tiramisu cake (because it was Anicka's 21st birthday). After dinner we hit the hay, absolutely exhausted from all the touring we had done.
Saturday we toured the Basilica dei Frari and the Scuola di San Rocco. Saint Francis's Basilica contrasted that of Saint Marcos in the fact that it was more humble than Saint Marcs. While the exterior of Saint Marks is covered in marble and the interior gold lief mosaic, the Saint Francis's is a more simple brick building with less extravagant mosaics. This was due to the fact that Saint Francis was not an extravagant man, rather he was a wealthy man who gave up all his wealth to the poor and his church reflects this idea. The Scuold di San Rocco was housed Titian painting after Titian painting after Titan painting. Titian was unique because of how he told his stories. While he painted the same biblical stories as everyone else, he depicted them differently (ie- when Christ is being baptized he is kneeing on a dark bank getting water poured over his head rather than standing in the water with John the Baptist which is how he is usually depicted.)
After these tours, we were let loose to explore the city on our own for the afternoon. Anicka, Megan and I hit up shop after shop after shop looking at all the beautiful masks, glass wear, and purses (making a number of purchases. Let say the Christmas gift my sister will be getting is breathtaking and a secret!) As we started to make our way back to the hotel, we proceeded to get rather lost (going in circles for 2 hours or so) in which time we coined our phrase "Guys. I know where we are! I just don't know where we are going..." as we found ourselves on the map, and which direction we needed to go, but we were unsure of which direction that actually was. We made it back in time to have an hour to stop at the Peggy Gugenheime museum (which was like a block from our hotel) to look at her collection of impressionist photos.
Jodi hosted an option tour of the Academia at this point, and I split up from Megan and Anicka to go tour it with Jodi. Boy am I glad I did because we stumbled on an exhibit of Leonardo Da Vinci's work (we Jodi told us, in her 40 years of living here in Florence, she had never seen these papers) they were a lot of sketches on scraps of paper (many of them I recognized) but the most exciting was the Vitruvian man. I saw his sketch of the perfectly proportioned man. And not in a glass case. It was framed on the wall and I got to be up close to it. Unbelievable.
We headed back to the hotel for dinner (spinach and roccota lasagna with roasted chicken and a green salad with a vanilla cream pudding for dessert).
Sunday, our final day in the city, found us taking a water taxi over to the old Jewish ghetto to tour old Jewish synagogues. Despite the fact that the early Venician government put strict rules in place for Jews in terms of worship (their synagogues basically had to be hidden to the naked eye so that people didn't know they were there. They were on the second floors of buildings to keep them out of sight) these synagogues were grand places of worship which were richly adorned with dark wood and richly painted walls, not to mention heavily adorned Torah's and tapestries.
Again we had the afternoon free to wander, and even the drizzle of rain that found us did not stop Megan, Anicka and I from doing more window shopping and just walking around to enjoy the sights of the city. And before we knew it, we were hoping back on a boat to catch a train to rainy Florence where we made it home just in time for supper (bucatini with a cream sauce and fried pork chops.)
It was over all quiet an adventure and I'm so sad to say goodbye to the city. I really hope I get the chance to go back with my parents when they come over to Europe during my fall break, but if not I'll be back. In this case, I do know where I'm going-going back to Venice, I just don't know when.
Morano Glass Blowing!
Finding the lions. All the lions. Symbols of a lot of the cities, they are everywhere and very elegant.
These were my favorite glass creations-the fish in fish bowls.
This was our private boat for our initial tour of Venice on the first day. Yes. I feel like I live in a movie.
Getting in touch with my Little Mermaid roots. Again.
But truth be told, the colors and textures make it such a cool picture!
Masks. All the masks.
Just so elegant.
Monet!
Made it to the Peggy Guggenheim museum. You know. Just striking some famous ones off my list. She did have an impressive amount of art and some really beautiful impressionist pieces.
Lion mask!
One of the wreaths out side of one of the Synagogues we went to.
In the Jewish Ghetto.
See that dome? That's a secret synagogue.
Frog mask!
Another lion mask!
A mime! Legit I ran away form him because I didn't want to get roped into something. I don't think he was amused I stole a picture...
It was raining on our last day...
And yet the city was still breath taking. Almost more haunting and beautiful.
I just loved being surrounded by so much water. I miss swimming so much and I can't wait to hop into a pool in December.
Left to right: Megan (Lake Forest College), Anicak (Beloit College) and me.
Mop dog!
