November 07, 2004
Venice - All Saint's Day
Yes, Venice. I went to Italy for the weekend. Rode on a train, the landscape speeding before me... or rather, behind me because I was facing the wrong direction. I saw everything as we passed it. We tunneled through the Dolomites and passed vineyards, terracing up the mountains and yellow with turned leaves. The mist hung low over the mountains like little caps and scarves. I tried to take some pictures from the train, but they just don't do the landscape justice:
For one thing, there's that black mark on the window (oh that I had photoshop! [Editor's Note: I have subsequently photoshopped these pictures.]), but more importantly, the colors just aren't the same. I listened to This Mortal Coil - the Originals. When we reached the Italian border, some passport/customs people came on the train to check passports. I had mine ready, but they never reached me. They became busy with some Indian travelers who apparently didn't have their passports and were taken off the train. The customs people never came back. I was disappointed because now my passport does not reflect that I went to Italy for the weekend. (No one even wanted to see my brightly-colored, offically-hologramed visa from Austria.)
I was so wrapped up in trying to find the Tourist Information booth at Santa Luzia that I forgot for a moment we were in Venice. Then we stepped outside and here it was:
But first things first - we wanted to get to our hostel, a camping site that turned out to be at least half an hour outside the city. But it was cheap and nice, private with bath ensuite. Here's Angie outside our little "cabin":
That night, we cruised the Grand Canal in the darkness. At first, we were scrunched into the main section of the ship with some French people (that I was trying to eavesdrop on, but apparently my French isn't that great), but eventually we clambored over some knees and I found myself in the foremost seat on the vaporetto. Here's me with the wind in my hair:
Venice at night is charming - the low lights cast long shadows over the architectural details, the outline of a pilaster here, the curve of an arch there, nothing in full view. The lamps were reflected in the water, and as we passed the open windows of palaces, we could see glimpses of chandeliers and tapestries in third-floor ballrooms. My camera, a cheap one, doesn't like to take pictures of lights. It eats them and spits them out fuzzy, but here are some pictures anyway:
That night, it rained. It poured water against the tin roof of our trailer. We froze inside (because we didn't discover the heater until the next morning). It was still raining when we woke up. We decided to wait a little while to see if it would calm down. Neither of us was terribly prepared for a rainy Venice. The plan was to pack light (or as light as possible, in my case). The rain stopped just before noon and we set out in trenchcoats and warm socks. After waiting half an hour for the bus, then riding in the bus for half an hour, we finally entered the city... a flooded Venice.
Around us, everyone was tying sacks to their feet or purchasing temporary galoshes. I couldn't find where those were being sold, and I hate asking, so we ended up just taking off our socks and shoes and rolling our pants up to the knees. We toured the back alleys and streets of Venice this way, ignoring the garbage that washed up around our ankles. We visited the Accademia and stared at Giorgiones and Tintorettos and Veroneses until our feet tired. Then we stopped by the Salute and rested on the steps, eating cheese sandwiches.
Inside were candles and art, a statue of the Ecstacy of St. Theresa, and organ music:
(sorry, couldn't get a picture of the organ music...)
That night on our way home, a man overheard us speaking in English and stopped to say hello. He was from Greece and didn't think the Italian people were too friendly. He obviously wanted us to invite him out with us, but honestly, he wouldn't have had a good time, since we were just going home. We're boring, you know.
That Piazza San Marco was still flooded the next morning. People walked on platforms set up, a human traffic jam, while those in temporary galoshes (or with their pants rolled up) waded out to the middle of the square for views and photos of the campanile and Doge's Palace.
and lanterns with pink glass and roosting pigeons.
The pigeons were everywhere. They were the only ones sitting to eat at the cafes.
A man sat at a stand on the dry part of the piazza selling pigeon feed for those brave enough to draw the pigeons to them.
We weren't suckered into spending the euro on food. The pigeons came to us anyway.
Obviously, the pigeons were the highlight. Then we took a cruise to the island of Murano, famous for its glass. We observed a glass figure-making demonstration and then were free to roam and buy. Here's what the glass-filled shops looked like:
And here are some pictures of the rest of the island:
So... that's Venice. Good pizza and gelati, lots of shopping, waiting for crowded buses and crowded vaporettoes (vaporetti?), brightly-colored poles and gondoliers in striped shirts (calendars of gondolier men and ... priests?), little stands that close down at 7, people pulling their luggage behind them, and bells ringing.
