Since my last entry I've taken an epic tour through ruins of ancient temples and fora and markets, from Pompei to Paestum, cliffs to caves, and everything in between. That was a weekend long field trip with my Ancient Art of Rome class, and deserves its own post. I've also explored even more churches and streets and piazzas and cafes in Rome, which, too, deserve their own moments in the spotlight. But for now, I will focus on Venice...
I went to Venice (Venezia) this past Friday, Saturday and Sunday on a trip organized by my program for the entire group. For starters, there's something to be said for getting to travel without having to do an ounce of the organizational grunt work. Working to figure out future weekend and spring break travel has taught me to appreciate that.
We took the train to Venice bright and early Friday morning and then took a ferry from the mainland across the lagoon to the island of Venice. Now, I'd always heard that Venice was gross, smelly, humid, touristy and sinking. The sinking part cannot be denied, but otherwise we side-stepped many of those issues by going in February. The weather was absolutely gorgeous throughout Friday and Saturday. Though it was slightly chillier than Rome, with the breeze off the water, we had lots of sun and consequently got the full, magnificent effect.
Basically, Venice is a fairyland. It's hard to imagine until you get there, but it is just this big, fantastical maze of waterways, canals, bridges and narrow alleyways. 
Venice is famous for its Murano glass products, so to add to the visual effect, almost every single street is lined with glass stores with brilliantly colored window displays of iridescent glass jewelry, vases, platters and figurines. We were also there just before the start of Carnival (like Mardi Gras) which is HUGE in Venice. Vendors that aren't selling glass sell ornately decorated masks for the occasion. 
People dress up in homemade, highly decorative costumes, pausing often to invite onlookers to photograph them. We soon discovered that at this time of year it is not uncommon to see people donning feathered, glittery masks or large colored wigs or tri-cornered hats or capes or full-out costumes complete with peptobismal colored lipstick (see photograph).
Venice is famous for its Murano glass products, so to add to the visual effect, almost every single street is lined with glass stores with brilliantly colored window displays of iridescent glass jewelry, vases, platters and figurines. We were also there just before the start of Carnival (like Mardi Gras) which is HUGE in Venice. Vendors that aren't selling glass sell ornately decorated masks for the occasion. 
People dress up in homemade, highly decorative costumes, pausing often to invite onlookers to photograph them. We soon discovered that at this time of year it is not uncommon to see people donning feathered, glittery masks or large colored wigs or tri-cornered hats or capes or full-out costumes complete with peptobismal colored lipstick (see photograph). We had a few group walking tours to get us oriented in the city and to give us some historical background. We, of course, went inside the ornately mosaic-ed St. Mark's basilica, made it (after briefly getting separated from the group!) to the historic Rialto Bridge, and a few other churches and sites to see many famous works by Venetian painters Titian, Tintoretto, and Giorgione. In the Accademia, a gallery we went to on Saturday, I met an adorable woman from the island of Malta who was in Venice with her husband for the weekend. They'd decided to tag along on our tour of the museum because clearly Professor Pestilli sounds like he knows what he's talking about!
On Saturday, the city began to fill with visitors coming for Carnival and more and more things related to the event began cropping up all over the place. In addition to masks, fancy face-painting was a big attraction. My friends and I came across a couple who had some face-painting options based on famous 19th century artists. Apparently the theme of Carnival this year is the 19th century (though they were the only people we heard that from). Jen got a starry-night themed design and Ophelia got one based on Klimpt's "Tree of Life." Had we had time I would've gone with either Mondrian or Miro, but sadly we had to rush back to make it to our walking tour on time. The people doing the face-painting were great, though, and seemed to enjoy sharing their knowledge about the city with us and were excited that we liked the artist-based designs instead of just swirly, glittery ones!
Saturday afternoon we finally tracked down a cafe that served the real, thick, syrupy hot chocolate we'd heard they served in Venice. I, of course, opted for a version that included espresso, and whipped cream. Delicious! It came with a sugared rim and chocolate shavings: A+ for presentation. 
We were initially drawn to the place because of all the fruit they had in view. Turns out they also offered many "centrifuges" which we're assuming is the Italian way of saying smoothie, something I still find pretty amusing. Unfortunately there wasn't time to try one of those! Within a few hours, though, we sampled a few more Venetian specialties: Prosecco and Bellini, a special form of prosecco combined with peach juice. Yum! That night we happened upon a huge concert in S. Mark's square which was a fastastic and festive end to the day.
We were initially drawn to the place because of all the fruit they had in view. Turns out they also offered many "centrifuges" which we're assuming is the Italian way of saying smoothie, something I still find pretty amusing. Unfortunately there wasn't time to try one of those! Within a few hours, though, we sampled a few more Venetian specialties: Prosecco and Bellini, a special form of prosecco combined with peach juice. Yum! That night we happened upon a huge concert in S. Mark's square which was a fastastic and festive end to the day. Sunday was windy and cold but after two perfect days we could hardly complain....
In the morning we took a short water taxi to a small island off the main(is)land of Venice to see the Basilica of San Giorgio Maggiore. This church houses Tintoretto's famous Last Supper painting which was exciting to see in person! 
Also, we got to take the elevator up to the top of the bell tower which offered an awesome view of all of Venice. We stayed up there until they rang the bells just for the amazing, though somewhat deafening, experience.
That would've been enough excitement for the day...but little did we know what was to come next. We had to go back to in shifts on the water taxi because by that point they were all packed. My friend Ophelia and I ended up on the first one back with two other girls. We waited and waited out in the cold to the background music of Simon & Garfunkle: Peruvian Flute Band style. About 45 minutes later we finally discovered that the director had rethought his plan and sent everyone else on different water taxis that dropped them closer to the hotel. At that point it was noon and surprise! It was time for the grand opening of Carnival in S. Mark's Square with the flight of the angel--when one person "flies" from the top of the belltower. All those people crowding the square who had looked like little dots from the top of the bell tower at the other church now were a reality--a vast mob, in fact. And we only had an hour before we had to be back at the hotel, lunched and ready to leave. In terms of capacity to handle crowds, Venice would probably be ranked one of the worst cities in the world and the narrow alleyways became our enemies. It was INSANE. After what seems like endless pushing and shoving and squeezing and shifting we made our way out, though only had a few minutes to spare. It was very frustrating at the time, but will definitely be a memorable, if comical even, experience.
Also, we got to take the elevator up to the top of the bell tower which offered an awesome view of all of Venice. We stayed up there until they rang the bells just for the amazing, though somewhat deafening, experience.
That would've been enough excitement for the day...but little did we know what was to come next. We had to go back to in shifts on the water taxi because by that point they were all packed. My friend Ophelia and I ended up on the first one back with two other girls. We waited and waited out in the cold to the background music of Simon & Garfunkle: Peruvian Flute Band style. About 45 minutes later we finally discovered that the director had rethought his plan and sent everyone else on different water taxis that dropped them closer to the hotel. At that point it was noon and surprise! It was time for the grand opening of Carnival in S. Mark's Square with the flight of the angel--when one person "flies" from the top of the belltower. All those people crowding the square who had looked like little dots from the top of the bell tower at the other church now were a reality--a vast mob, in fact. And we only had an hour before we had to be back at the hotel, lunched and ready to leave. In terms of capacity to handle crowds, Venice would probably be ranked one of the worst cities in the world and the narrow alleyways became our enemies. It was INSANE. After what seems like endless pushing and shoving and squeezing and shifting we made our way out, though only had a few minutes to spare. It was very frustrating at the time, but will definitely be a memorable, if comical even, experience. Needless to say, I slept quite soundly on the train ride back to Rome! And now, a few hundred of photos later and a significantly lighter wallet, here we are! (More of those hundreds of photos will be up soon...)
