Fashion and Churches: Venice Days 3 & 4

I was about to start writing this and I looked out the window while I was trying to figure out what to say; I looked up just in time to see the woman who lives across the street (who I've also watched doing her dishes and smoking) taking her top off.... and now she's shut the window. Lady, it is too late for that sort of precautionary measure. Not that any Italians I've ever met have particularly been bastions for decorum, bastions for fashion maybe and exciting gesticulations most definitely. Speaking of Italians, I want to talk for a minute about fashion; all of them have the most incredible sense of style. No matter how tall or short, wide or skinny, they know exactly how to dress and look fabulous all the time. It's not fair.

 What have I done the past two days besides ogle the local folk? Took a trip to Murano (where they make the glass), bought some shoes, visited the Santa Maria della Salute, the Scuola de San Rocco, and the Basilica Santa Maria Gloriosa Dei Frari. Most of the churches wont allow you to take pictures inside, which is both good and bad. I understand why they do it; churches are sacred places and besides all the tourists coming to ogle there are actually people there praying. Still, it's sort of a bummer because they're these incredible 500+ year old buildings with these amazing paintings and chandeliers and carvings and you really just want to take pictures of everything. And they wont let you. And if you're me, you sulk about it. And then go outside and take pictures of the outside. 

This is the Santa Maria della Salute. And it is huge and beautiful.

These ladies were about 8 or 9 feet long each, and are chilling out above the front door of the church. The front door is probably about 15 or 16 feet tall. These numbers seem accurate in my head now, but you probably shouldn't call me on them. I did not bring my tape measure with me to the church, my bad. I promise I will tomorrow (not really though) when we go to the Academia. 

Stray Observations:

• Foods I have eaten: Yesterday was a soup day: tortellini soup for lunch, followed by a cappuccino and a slice of lemon cake which was divine. Dinner was vegetable soup, which here comes in a chicken stock broth which was different and really good. Today, a mushroom and prosccuito panini (which was not a panini like American's think of. If you're American, picture a stromboli... that dough tube filled with yummies... that's a panini.) And my favorite gelato so far: pistachio. Holy crap it was so good. The creaminess of the gelato went fantastically with the salty taste of the pistachio. For breakfast, cheerios... Cheerios taste the same everywhere. They taste like sad bland circles.
• I did a lot of shopping in Murano. Glass is cool, glass blowers are cool and giant glass sculptures are also cool. 

                                                      

Gelato and Spritz: Venezia, Days 1 & 2

Venice is beautiful. This is something that many many people have said before and that they will continue saying until people, or Venice, no longer exist. That's because it is entirely true. There isn't an alley to walk down where there isn't something fantastic or enticing on the other side. And there's incredible art and architecture everywhere. It's unbelievable that people live here, I mean, really. We just got back from Ca Rezzionico, which is an 18th Century Palace that is now a museum; most of the rooms on the first 2 floors have their original furnishings (they don't let you take pictures inside - if they did the rest of this blog would be pictures of chandeliers from the 1740s.) But while we were there I realized that in America, we design our museums to look like 18th Century Venetian palaces. At first, when you walk around you think, "Oh, well that's just what museums look like: ornate walls, marble floors, high ceilings," and then you realize, "...this museum is a big deal because its furnished as it was in the 18th century when it was a house. Someone lived here and it looked exactly like this."  We have entirely stolen their design aesthetic and applied it to our museums.

Today we went to the Piazza San Marco, which was huge and also a huge draw for tourists. They (we) were EVERYWHERE. Tons of people speaking TONS of different languages, with maps and cameras and fanny packs. This picture is from earlier in the morning, about 10 or so, and its mostly of the Basilica de San Marco, but you can see the crowds starting to form below it. If we spoke Italian we could have listened to the Palm Sunday mass; they broadcast it live over loud speakers into the square.

Yesterday was relatively uneventful. We got into the airport, took the boat to the city (I have seen at least 15 boats to every car this entire trip), came to the apartment, ate a snack, went out for dinner and gelato, and then came back and went to sleep. Beautiful, beautiful sleep. On the plane I hadn't managed to sleep at all  and after about an hour and a half of scooching around in my seat I gave up and listened to Cabin Pressure for the next two and a half hours which was lovely but not quite as revitalizing as a nap. However, in my quest to entice myself to stay awake until 10:00 PM Venice time, I went a little food crazy. Delicious hand-made ricotta and spinach ravioli, Nutella and caramel gelato, and the drink which all the hip cool young Italians drink- Spritz.

Spritz (or sometimes spritze) is very orange and mine was rather bitter; you can have it mixed with a less bitter bitter than I chose. The drink is white wine, sparkling water, and something else, generally a bitter (I went with Campari.) These drinks are everywhere. Sitting in the Campo di Santa Margherita, orange glasses littered the tables at the cafes. Apparently, it's so popular some people call it the official drink of Venice. I will definitely be trying another.

Tomorrow we should be headed up to the Isle of Murano where murano glass is made. The rest of today will be spent exploring the area around the apartment, relaxing and drinking wine. Also, I'll be around on Skype if anyone wants to chat. You can see the canals from out my window in the apartment, and I'd be more than happy to hold my computer out the window for you. 

Ciao!

Stray Observations:

• Also, spent a good portion of the day walking along Riva degli Schiavoni, which borders Saint Mark's Canal. Bought a few watercolors of the rivers from a painter who was setting up outside a restaurant. He did a fantastic job capturing the colors of the city. Venice is incredibly bright and the light reflects off the buildings and the water to make the most stunning colors. 

Canale di San Marco

• Other food I've eaten: Spaghetti in Squid Ink sauce with calamari, stracciatella gelato, and tiramisu mousse. Also, Frosted Flakes which, in Italy, they call Frosties.
• Boats: People take boats everywhere. It is the most convenient way to get around. Their boat system is like a metro system(they're called water buses, but really, it's like a metro) However, for tourists, besides the water metro and water taxis there are also gondolas. The locals can ride the gondolas too; however, most choose not to parody their city's history by paying their kinsmen too many euros to push them around the rivers in a straw hat. Despite how cynical that last sentence was, the gondolas are decked out to be historically accurate and are cool to look at.   Today in gondola news: there was a gondola traffic jam between two bridges. 4 gondolas full of tourists were trying to pass each other and the gondoliers were yelling at each other in Italian and angrily pushing their gondolas around. It was very exciting. Also, unlike in the movies, there aren't people lounging in the gondolas with parasols or with guys with accordions singing to them... oh wait... 

Technically, he's not the one playing the accordion, so...