Well kids, I've really been jetting around town lately. Our program organized a one night trip to Venice, so early Friday morning all 44 of us hopped aboard a coach bus for a 3 1/2 hour ride to Venice. It turns out that buses really aren't for me. Or anyone who chooses to travel WITH me. But anyway, we arrived in the city around 11am. I always knew Venice had canals instead of streets, but I guess I never fully realized how deconstructed it is compared to other, cohesive cities. Venice is literally hundreds of little islands, sometimes connected by bridges but mostly by little canals. It also has a fascinating history of being a mercantile and subsequent cultural checkpoint of Eurasia in the past thousand years (I don't have any energy to expand on that, although the vagueness of that statement begs more attention. Whatevs, wikipedia it later).
Our first stop was the glass-making island of Murano, where we saw the glass master in one warehouse blow glass into a reared-back horse, which was pretty damn impressive. Our guide was telling us that it takes about 15-20 years to become a master of glass-blowing, which was interesting considering how easy this man made it look. The glass itself was in a glob at the end of a hollow, metal pole and he rolled it around a lot, blew it in a bit, poked at it with some tweezers and BAM! a glass horse, perfectly balanced rearing back on its hind legs. So, yeah, generally unimpressive stuff. We then went upstairs to their official store and saw some of the most ornate and beautiful glass products in the world probably. Everything from stemware and chandeliers to jewelry and animal statues were crazy impressive and delicate and shiny.
Next we went to Piazza San Marco, which was easily the most spatially stunning piazza so far. It's really enormous, lined on three sides with three levels of loggias, and faces toward the truly magnificent, staggering Basilica di San Marco. All in all, it's an impressive space, and its right on the Grand Canal. (Fun fact: Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp are currently filming their new thriller The Tourist in Venice, and we totally saw the light crew setting up shop in front of the Palazzo Ducale adjacent to the Basilica that night. Apparently Jolie is really stuck up and Depp is short but very nice and humble. The name of the movie doesn't really light my fire but the fact that those two are on the screen together should make up for the shitty title. Also, until the end of time I will tell people I was on their set)
Anywho, we tooled around the city for a bit, had a nice relaxing lunch and then went back to the Basilica at 7:30pm for a private evening tour was was amazing. We walked into the church and it was nearly pitch black, except for some satellite lighting the seemed light the space just enough to give us a feeling of how truly grand it is. We sat in the first couple rows of seats and some sort of lackey or priest or what have you began turning on lights. It was actually really dramatic, the first ones that came on were all the way up by the altar, and everyone ooh-ed and ahh-ed when they shed light on the brilliantly golden interior. Once the place was completely lit, we saw it had six domes, making the standard cruciform shape of churches, but every inch was covered it golden mosaic telling stories of Jesus and Saint Mark. Gorgeous.
Another reminder that Venice is basically underwater, while leaving the Basilica we had to jump over a fairly large puddle, which apparently appears every evening as the water in the canals rises. When we saw the Piazza it was similarly puddled, and I heard from some other people that it's usually much worse, almost filling the entire space in a couple inches of water. I'm heading back there in about a month with my brother and Mel, so I should eventually have a follow-up.
Verona was not at all what I expected, in the best way possible. You can tell its a northern city, it's much bigger and there is definitely more money there. It's incredibly clean for one, and also much larger and better preserved than many other historic Italian cities. Pictures should be up on facebook soon, it was all this beautiful white and beige stone mixed with natural oases with robust trees and beautiful, blooming flowers. We rounded out the day by going to the Castle of Verona, and tanning on one of the turrets, such a tourism success!
I'm leaving for the Amalfi Coast on Thursday! More after that. Beaches here I come.
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