Venice, Italy: Part 2

Let's see... For sure the first full day was the most epic, merely because of the walk that Rae and I went on all day. Another activity we performed was taking the 'bus' from the beginning of it's run all the way out to the island of Lido. The bus was of course a boat and we picked it up at its first stop so we were able to get seats up front. The number 1 goes along the whole Grand Canal and then out through the bay to the island of Lido. There were about 15 stops and it was a nice day on the water. This is probably the most frequented boat since it ran every 10 minutes or so, but there were still a ton of people all the time. Thank goodness we had seats up front. The stops criss-crossed the canal so if you wanted a particular side, you might have a bit of a walk from your stop to where you need to be.

We had been told also that Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie were at a particular section of the Grand Canal filming a new movie called the Tourist. Unfortunately, we did not find or see them. Oh well. The island of Lido is pretty much a strip of land that separates the island of Venice and it's bay from the Adriatic. As such, we walked the entire width of it and visited the Adriatic. My sisters and Rae actually took their shoes off and waded. I'm told it was very cold.

On the way back from Lido, we got off the boat at San Marco and braved the extreme mass of humanity that inevitably goes to the famous places. I'd like to draw your attention to the lamp stands and their pink glass. Interesting. San Marco was quite large and our search for an exchange place for my sisters led us up an alley, which then sent us on some exploration of the surrounding areas of the San Marco neighborhood. We made our way down to the Rialto bridge and had an early dinner. And then we had more gelato. *thumbs up*

That dinner was the only time I had a pasta dish while in Italy. All my other meals were pizza and gelato and beer with crisps. Yes, here in Venice we found the most delightful pub to frequent and frequent it we did. I had my choice between a Martin's & Gordon Red or the 9% Carlsberg Special Brew. Oh mercy! The last time I had a beer I enjoyed this much was in Scotland in November and before that it was August in Seattle. The beer came with free crisps and our relationship became so good that we even got free sandwiches one time, no charge (plus more crisps). Huzzah! Rae was enjoying Campari spritzers that were very tasty. When we weren't having beer at this pub, we were enjoying the extreme variety of pizza toppings that Venice had to offer. One such topping I must recount. Fries (or chips since I seem to be using UK versions of potato foods). Yes, fries were placed on top of a cheese or pepperoni pizza slice. Astounding. I will be trying this at home. I had never even imagined what potato and pizza would taste like but it works. Try it.

Our last few hours in Venice were spent at a Irish pub (they were heavily advertising football and Guiness) people watching. Espressos or lattes all around and all four of our seats were facing out to the walkway. The pub came with a very cute guard dog who did not want to be petted at all. I let him be and we named him Max.

We watched as street peddlers vended phony high end bags, sunglasses and such. One time and quite suddenly, 7 of them came tearing from our left through the crowd with about 3 bags on each of their arms. It was like a scene from a movie. My head casually followed them from left...to right as they kept glancing back. Another person in uniform shortly came tearing after them. Wow! About 20 minutes and another espresso later, we see some of those guys come moseying back. I can only assume the weaker of the herd was taken down.

Venice is a city of wandering. No cars or buses, except for boats, means you're walking everywhere. It was nice to get off the beaten paths and away from the people. That way you get to see some of the more interesting things and even to try and imagine living there. I'm glad I visited. It certainly was a sight to see.

Venice, Italy: Part 1

A little over a week ago my sister and her best friend came out to Germany to visit me.  For the first two days, we wandered Giessen and visited Marburg.  After that we went to Venice since we reasoned it would get really boring for them to be in Giessen for a week.  Train travel being expensive if you don't have a pass, we planned a trip to a place we all had been wanting to visit.  All parts of the plan to get there went off without a hitch.  We flew Ryanair again which means flying into an out of the way airport.  In this case, it was Treviso.  An hour bus ride and a very long bridge to the island and we were in Venice.  

"Ah...Venice."  I just had to quote Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when I got off the bus.  We quickly followed the directions to our hostel and left the realm of cars and buses behind us.  There was the Grand Canal right off the bat!  A huge bridge too, which consisted entirely of steps, but we were not to take that bridge.  Let me just say that the streets had us licked from the very beginning.  We didn't have a good map with us yet and the word 'street' means something very different here.  Alley would be the more appropriate word.  Thankfully Sarah, my sister's friends, isn't afraid to speak so we asked a restaurant proprietor where the street was that we sought.  We kept an eye on our surroundings and saw that there was a bakery and a pizzeria right next to our place so our first night involved having pizza and a little wandering around.  

There is a lot more concrete and roadway than I was expecting.  I pictured canals between every block and sidewalk-like walkways on each side.  But there were entire sections where you could walk 5 or even 10 minutes and not see any water.   There was also a persistent odor that was very slight and I could imagine that in the summer it would be worse, thus confirming the smelly Venice I've also heard about.  Thankfully, the temperatures were cool enough that I never noticed it again.  Moreover, an army of gnomes appears to have been unleashed with spray cans because there was graffiti everywhere!  No joke.  I was astonished.  We wondered if they paint over it in tourist season, but then thought this town is a year round destination.  Oh well.  I got over that quickly too.

Our first full day found my sisters (my sis' best friend is practically another sister) wandering by themselves while Rae and I took to the city like madmen.  By madmen, I just mean that we were going out and had no intention to come back until our 5 pm rendezvous time.  Two of my goals for this city were to find the Church of San Pantalon and the Church of San Barnaba.  At San Pantalon, there is  The Martyrdom and Apotheosis of St Pantalon by Gian Antonio Fumiani, a massive ceiling painting.  Fumiani died painting it when he fell from the scaffolding.  I wanted to see it because it was mentioned in a book I recently read, The Solitudes by John Crowley.  It described the painting's way of going up into infinity and it certainly did.  Here is a link to a Wikipedia picture of the ceiling.  My next place was actually in the line from our hostel to Pantalon so we continued walking and eventually (I say eventually because we zigged instead of zagging and came around the long way) arrived at the Church or San Barnaba, the outside of which was used for the library in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.  Here is a picture of me in front of the structure.  

The inside was hosting a da Vinci inventions thing.  They had about 50 miniature versions of his inventions on display.  I glanced inside and can say for sure that the interior shots from the movie were a set.  Whatever, I liked the outside.  

From there, Rae and I continued east, I believe, and began a very large loop around all of Venice.  We wandered to the San Marco area, out to a peninsula point that had some sort of art museum, around the point, up and over the Grand Canal, out to a Bastion wall, back up to another bend in the Grand Canal and down to the Rialto Bridge.  We sat finally and had some beer at a table on the water right next to the bridge. 

There was a very amusing guy on his boat directly in front of us while we were drinking. He was on his cell phone, gesticulating wildly (I gather as Italians do, no offense), and walking up and down the length of his boat. His pacing was the amusing part as he appeared to be quite drunk. I kept expecting him to tumble overboard. He would walk right to the edge and lean out and then lean back all while talking and moving his arms. Eventually, he started up his boat, his buddy got on and they took off. His pal barely missed hitting his head on the bridge as they went under. Yes, the other guy was still on the phone. I was sad to see them go.

There was also much gelato to be had while in Italy and we definitely had a lot.  If it wasn't pizza, it was gelato.  So it goes.  Our first day ended with going for pizza and gelato.  I shall tell more in a subsequent post shortly.  Out.