Days 0-16: Paris Days
DAY 17: A wake in Venezia
DAY 18: The Former Trading Empire of Venice
DAY 19: Another Slice of Paradise
DAY 20: More Raino; Murano
DAY 21: Fry Day
DAY 22: A Dose of the Doge
DAY 23: Sunday Slumming and Slime
DAY 24: The Penultimate Day
DAY 25: The Longest Day

Day 17: A wake in Venezia

At last. While I did meet a fun couple (American college kids just done with 4 months of study in Spain: Joe and Becky). And I did sleep reasonably well. (couldn't sleep while the train was stopped though, oddly) So, I hopped on a Vaporetto (The #82) [The 'express' water bus] to Saint Mark's Square, where I was
told my hotel would be near. I'm standing outside the Tourist Info place, waiting for them to open at 10 (a few minutes away yet). If they don't, I'll have to hire a porter to guide me to my hotel and I'd rather wrangle my own bags.

So, first impressions. It's drizzly, but that really brings out the colorfulness of this city. More bugs than Paris, but not yet an annoying amount. Smell? More boat exhaust than anything else. I have that "I'm paying for this, I'd better love it" stress going on, but it's still kinda mild. So far it's incredible, I'll be more relaxed after I check in and clean up some. Ah, the Tourist Info is open finally! Only 10 minutes late, my kinda people. ;)

What a cluster @#%(&#! San Marculo and St. Mark's are not the same thing. I have now hauled my bags all the way back to the Ferrovia Train Station on the far west side of town. I got on the #1 Vaporetto, which stops at every single dock along the grand canal and it took forever, just to make sure it wouldn't skip my dock. 60 minutes later I'm finally in Piazzale Roma looking for my hotel. Of course, the helpful tourist info person circled a big area on the map and there aren't street names, which would have helped narrow down my search. So, with my heavy luggage I begin dragging it over bridges trying to find my former monastery now-hotel. Finally, I spot the place and enter the lobby only 4.5 hours after arriving at the train station.

Of course, the first thing I hear is that they gave away my room because I didn't show up last night. WHAT?! I called and said I'd be a day late... It turns out my travel agent said I would be checking in the same day I was leaving Paris... even though I was going to be taking an over-night train into Venice. Ooops. I should have read my itinerary more closely. Grrrr. The hotel is full, but would I be interested in a room in their "Annex"? At the same rate? A larger room? But only for 7 days, not 9. Argh. Okay, I'll take it, and figure something out for the last 2 days. I'll change my flight back if I have to. [My room in the 'annex' was in the left-middle white building under the cranes in this photo. I'm standing across the Grand Canal from the Ferrovia Train Station taking this photo]

The room itself is quite modern, spacious about a block away from the hotel itself. Big bathroom, weird shower, no curtain or anything to keep the water from splashing all over the room. No tub, really weird toilet and a separate bidet, I'm thinking this must be some weird ritzy Italian thing until I spot the 2 pull strings in the restroom with "Alarm" tags attached. How creepy! I'm in the physically challenged accessible room. WHATEVER At this point any clean private room with functioning facilities would be acceptable as last night's train ride did NOT help settle my still angry(er?) tum. So, well, I look at it this way, all my bad expectations have been met minus being robbed, and I'm still in pretty good spirits. I must be doing something right. For now though, I'm exhausted, need a shower and a nap before I attempt anything else (12:30PM -- my freaky room)

The nap won out. I read up on more Italian after. My brain hurts, so much to absorb all at once! I'm still wondering how to manage going home early. Call the travel agent and have her figure something out as it's her mistake to begin with? Go to the airline directly? Right now I almost just want to give up and go home, but I'm here... and I WILL make the most of it. Dame the tum! (3PM -- my room)

So, I'm unpacking, loading up the room safe (bigger but still not big enough for the laptop, sigh) I'm rather groggy, but curious where I put my passport after I checked in. Can't seem to find it. I refuse to panic. I try to call the front desk, curious, dialing 0 just beeps at me. Okay, so I stow the goods, stash the laptop out of the way, grab the keys, make sure I can get back into the room before locking myself out and do the same with the front door to the building... and the gate in front of the building. (3 different keys all total) The front desk-man was different but said yes, I had left my passport at the front desk. (eep!) 3rd times the charm, I've "almost" left behind my iPod at the security checkpoint in the Institute D'Arabia in Paris, I did leave behind a copy (not the original) of my room confirmation info at the front desk of the hotel by Gare Bercy while trying to call Italy to tell them I'd be late. Hopefully I'm done with being so bloody absentminded. It's so not me!

After retrieving the passport I set out on foot looking for something to nibble. Not too far away, didn't want a repeat of my first Paris walk-about. At least not until tomorrow. Grabbed an icky fried-chicken sandwich from a sidewalk vender, which should hold me for tonight. I'm still quite spacy and out of it from travel, even with (maybe due to) the nap this afternoon. Sadly the hotel choice was poorly made. I went for the least mainstream sounding place I could get a discount with, hoping for some mid-sized back alley spot near the middle of the island... what I got is between the bus station and the train station. Border-town Venice, with the worst of the touristy crap in the city. Fortunately there's a vaporetto dock right outside my gate and the room is both quiet and air conditioned. I should call the airline tonight. Not sure I feel clear-headed enough for that. Tomorrow after breakfast otherwise. (6PM - My room)

Random Cultural/Media observations: French commercials seems to have a lot of ads featuring the product endorsing character perpetrating odd and sometimes insensitive acts without fessing up to them. (ie: accidentally putting diesel fuel into a friend's car in a kitcat commercial) Italian ads seem to have more nudity, more sexually charged situations and, ugh, more Macarena! I've seen or heard that dance/tune 3 times in the last 20 minutes of channel surfing. Some how Xena in Italian is much more entertaining. ;) (6:20PM)

Another worldly Americanism: "Home Fitness". At least this one has a slightly more positive connotation, if infomercials can have such an aspect. (6:45PM)

Whine! I'm tired of being sick. Bored! I don't have any of the usual distractions to get my mind off my midsection that I do at home. BBC-World is recycling it's programming and it's the only English channel I get. Sigh. (9PM)

Will it never stop? I think I've lost all the weight I've gained from eating well in Paris. If this doesn't turn soon, I'm making my flight home even earlier. No sense spending this kind of money to hide in a room watching bad TV! :( (10PM)

So far so good, the stomach has been quiet all morning. I'm sneezing my head off, but that's just allergies and easy(er) to tolerate by far. I can only imagine how serious a breeding ground for mold this place is. I'll cope. It's a clear day, and still early yet, I'll probably window shop through midday to avoid the sun and explore more earnestly in the later afternoon. Folks are very well dressed here, except slob tourists, like me. The laundry bill in Paris was about 20 euro more than I had originally expected, but I'm glad I had it done rather than doing it myself, it puts me somewhere between "tourist" and "out of towner" (ie: someone who lives near enough to come here occasionally, just for fun) So much to do, well, I'd better hop to it! Ciao! (10:30AM - Breakfast at the hotel)


What an incredible city! Only just exploring the Piazzale Roma section (south west quadrant) thus far, lots of renovation, saw a school, toured a little shrine/museum dedicated to da Vinci. So much eye candy, of so many types! The weather is warm, but there's a nice breeze in the twisting alleys. I've become mosquito bait, I'm afraid. No matter. I finished my circuit back at my room to change shoes, my newer/dressier ones still pinch a bit and I'd rather avoid another blister. The church bells at noon were everywhere, how unlike Paris! I'd never given much thought to the piety of the Italians, I suppose this country does encounter a bit more influence from the Vatican than others. More-so than I expected. I shouldn't generalize, but it's interesting seeing the difference between Italian and American women. Italian women seem so much more confident, out-spoken, assertive and well, dominant! Aside from the religious observances, they seem far more liberated and empowered than American women! The husbands seem pretty docile, then again, going to Venice for Italian husbands must be akin to taking the wife shopping anyway. So that figures. Heh! :) Anyway, I'm going to call the airport/airline and see about changing my tix, and then head out again. (1PM - My room)


Argle Bargle! Changing my flight home is going to be such a pain! I'm rather annoyed at my travel agent for the botching of my hotel booking in Venice. Even without the strike they would have given my room away for non-arrival. I think the game plan is now to insist the hotel notify me if there's a cancellation and try finding another place to crash otherwise. I dunno how badly memorial day weekend back home will gum up travel here but I do NOT look forward to flying home standby, even if 2 days in Munich might be fun. Ah choices, choices. (1:30PM - My room)


Had a green salad and pesto Terterini (linguini-like), very tastey. Had an entirely litre of "Asti" (beer), yes, a Litre. Big damned mug they served that in. What can I say, I was thirsty from my long walk! Needless to say, that put on a good buzz that lasted a nice long time! I returned to St. Mark's, looked in more glass shops, getting a better feel for what's "tourist crap" and what's "expensive tourist crap" so that I will have some chance at bartering later. Paid 6 euro to go up the Camponile. The sun was getting lower and the light was this neat golden color everywhere. Took way too many pics! Came down and just sat on a step listening to the bands. Had a serious few minutes of bliss right there. The beer, music, scenery, warmth, me, it all just synchronized and I savored it fully. Nothing forced about it, I was genuinely and thoroughly happy. Glad I had my sunglasses on, I think I got a little misty eyed for a moment there. :) As the sun got lower I angled around for a good pick of St. Mark's Basilica, getting the sun reflecting off as much of the gold as possible [the pics are towards the end of the journal]. Then I plunked down at one of the cafe tables and had some sort of tart strawberry melon concoction (with potato chips and green olives on the side, odd mix).

Oh, all right. I could just die, right here, right now, a happy man. What a blissfully perfect day! I walked the entire length of Venice, from my Hotel to the Militare/Naval academy (which blocked going further), and back by the sports arena. After you pass Saint Mark's Square, the waterfront is just littered with yachts, obviously the rich still arrive via their traditional routes. The sleepy Italian village past them seems so quiet and untouristy compared to the rest of the island. I was loving every minute of my exploration. Obviously, a love of clothes leads to... Laundry!! the little streets were crisscrossed with color flags of fashion and floral sheets. (the additional shade they gave was greatly appreciated!)


As I threaded my way back to St. Mark's after deciding I wasn't going to circumnavigate the entire island today, I stopped for dinner. Didn't catch the name of the place. All the serving girls were Japanese though, which was kind of odd. Grazi? Domo? Thanks? Whatever! I vastly prefer having to ask for a bill rather than waiting for them to decide when you're done. I took a few more "people" shots, couples, singles, pigeon fanciers. Dirty rats, you'd think these people had never seen pigeons before! They're so tame in the square that if you cup your hand and hold it out one will land on your hand looking for seed! If there are 2 or three on your hand already, then one lands on your head, hoping to scare you into dropping the seed on the ground! Clever devils!

So, after a short attack of "I can't believe I'm really here!"-ishness, I decided to take the #1 back to the hotel (the slow boat). While trying to figure out which dock to wait at I encountered an American couple faced with the same challenge. We compared notes and boarded the correct boat. I, of course, had to ask where they were from (San Diego!) So we traded favorite restaurants. Carol and Bill even gave me their number! They come to Venice very year, I'm so jealous! They hopped off at the Rialto and I stayed on board, and kept getting in the way of the guy that ties the bus up to the dock and opens the gate. (oops) Didn't mean to, just wasn't paying attention. I think I'll go out for an after-dark evening stroll now. Tomorrow, Murano? We'll see. (9:30PM - my room)

Dare I say it? Would it tempt fate? The tum is behaving itself finally! The sneezing seems confined to my room, (perhaps the previous resident had a pet?) Murano is a no-go today, the main museum is closed on Wednesdays. Hmf. The Accademia seems closed too, or I'm looking in the wrong place [ I was on on the wrong side of the bridge, oops ] I'll try the Peggy Guggenheim Museum later today. There's some sort of "special tour" in the Doge's Palace you need to call ahead for (The Secret Itineraries Tour), I may do that, we'll see.
[Cafe Florian]
Grabbed a set of 11 postcards, and, while I sit here in St. Mark's Square in the late morning, I'm going to get started on those. No camera today, I locked that in the safe and just brought the journal (obviously). This Italian mocha certainly isn't a cultural trademark, but it serves its purpose, sating 2 cravings in one blow, er, slurp. I think that my desire to see Paris and Venice stems from something slightly odd. I mean the art, food, architecture, language, history and all that are fascinating, but what really draws me is seeing the living breathing organism that is the city itself. How does it obtain nourishment, how does it rest. City hygiene and respiration. Paris and Venice have evolved from such archaic youths to the entities they are now, while trying to preserve their identity throughout. The 'Egouts de Paris' drove that point home. Having spent so much time and effort building and caring for DM, I can't help but be curious about the care and feeding of other cities. It's sad, but I think DM and Venice suffer similar fates... Worsening conditions (floods/lag) competition (more modern cities) and adherence to
archaic ideals have resulted in a geriatric population which is steadily dwindling. What's the cure? Sell out to tourism like Venice? Slash and burn, replace with modern tech, or rust an d crumble? How do you attract and retain permanent residents? (without bribery) If I've learned anything from Paris and Venice on this topic it's that citizens need a sense of duty and pride in that duty as well as acknowledgment of their efforts. They need peers to collaborate with, customers that depend upon them and perhaps even competitors to struggle against for that momentary sense of success or goading that comes from defeat. Citizens also seem to need entertainment social/family time. Work and play, worth and place. But in an online setting... can it be done without an economy? {The Caponile's Bells just rang noon! What a lovely sound!} I suppose other subtler things are also necessary, ritual/ceremony/holiday's to demark the passage of time and break the monotony as well as to provide the ever essential sense of anticipation. Perhaps that's more key than I thought. (And let's not forget Skinner! Heh!) The bands at theses cafe's seem to have that Skinnerian conditioning down, random songs, random breaks, I'm hooked! ;) While I'm on the topic, I suppose membership in something larger than the self or the family is
necessary as well. The Benign Dictatorship of DM doesn't really allow for opposing political parties. Are politics, like marketing/commercialism, something to leave outside the gates? A pandora's box better left closed or a fruitful chaos, such as resulted from the apple from the tree of knowledge of good and evil? (I personally now believe the tree was one of "Differing Opinions" and no wonder God forbade it. ;) Not that I subscribe to all that, just using the metaphor as it's handy. What the hell am I on DM anyway? A Diocrat? Where do I draw the line between the will of the people and "Trust me, it'll be good for all for you?" Can I be both conservative and liberal at the same time? Side note: ?Finland? Has a liberal dominated government, so the right wing is labeled "The Progressive Party", which makes me chuckle. I guess it all depends on perspective!

Okay, enough of this rambling, I'm wearing out my writing hand! (12:30PM Cafe Florian in St. Mark's Square)

Hand Cramp! ALL 11 postcards are done. (1:45PM same seat)


[Shopping]
More window shopping, I thought I might tour the Doge's palace, but they won't sign out the audio guide thingie without me giving them my passport as collateral. (Grr). So, I bailed on that for today and hit an Internet Cafe. Caught up on email and talked with Bedo online for a bit. She was insightful, as always, on ideas for Chelsea's wedding present. (Yay! Thank you!) Now, I've wandered vaguely westwards back across the Accademia bridge and past the building I was looking for earlier. Hunger overrode curiosity.
I'll go back later. Shops are closing up and there is this tidal surge of locals and students sweeping the back streets. Curious, I follow along looking for a local's eatery of some sort. well, found one. My waitress barely speaks any English at all, but we're good, she understood what I wanted. Yum! :) I think I'll seek out dessert elsewhere though.l I shouldn't tempt fate but I really want some gellato! Sigh! Be good! Be Good! (Dinner 5:30PM somewhere not so obviously touristy)


[A silly billboard]

First day of rain in Venice, but it's rather light. I bought way too much glass, ugh! Not too bad $-wise, just heavy. Knowing how poor and impatient a barter I can be, I chose a new tactic and found 4 items I wanted, and asked why one very different item was so much more expensive compared to seemingly more ornate goblets around it. The shopkeeper explained that each part of the step is hand blown separately making it more complex than the others which are merely blown into molds and hand painted afterwards. Oh. He really wanted to sell me the goblet though. He quoted a price, and I pushed the goblet out of the set I was buying. He gave me another quote, putting it back in... I thought, and pushed it back out. We played the pushing game for about 5 more quotes. I ended up with a very nice price on the lot, including the goblet. (this shop was a glassfactoryoutlet-style shop about as far from the tourist-ridden side of Murano as possible, business was very slow in there too which apparently worked in my favor! :)

I'm on the boat back to Venice now, with heavy bags of loot. :) Glad I hit the museum before shopping. If I was carrying all this stuff around I'd have skipped it otherwise. (3PM - Vaporetto #42)

My concept of time is slowly becoming unhinged. Since last entry, I dropped of the bounty in the room, wandered about in the rain trying to find a good spot for dinner, had dinner, returned to Ferrovia for the 82 to St. Mark's, chatted up a lovely British/Londoner couple, hit the Internet cafe for an hour and now, like a junky, I'm back at the Cafe Florian for dessert and music! Aaahhhhh! Now, let me confess that dinner last night turned out to be far less "back street" than I had originally thought. Oops. I found it almost immediately by another route, putting it much closer to Ferrovia than I had though. So, I charged past it today. I want Pesto! I read through at least 10 menus before finding a place, a few streets away from the main tourist track. I was invited in and it turned out that no one in the place spoke any English. With my guide book I spoke more Italian than they did English! :) I ordered reasonably well, and I got exactly what I was hoping for, Delisamondo! :) As I'm ever the odd bird and prefer my main meal around 4PM I was the only customer in the place, sitting at the table next to the Owners (husband/wife), the cook and the waitress who had just finished their dinner and were relaxing with a few drinks before the evening diners arrived. As I finished up, we managed to convey a few amusing thoughts, they joked at how wet I still was (I was rained on a lot just before they invited me in). I laughed too and said that it was "no freddo" (not cold) and not a problem. I then told them that I played the piano and that most of the Italian I know is from piano music, which they thought was hysterical so we bandied a few words of that back and forth with hand gestures and laughter. I think the wine was getting to me. ;) [ This turned out to be the cheapest and best food and the most fun dinner I had during the whole trip ] A very surreal evening and mentally exhausting by the time I thanked them and left as other customers started arriving. :)

(backing up a little) The Londoner couple were really neat folks, the wait for the #82 was pretty long and then at the Rialto we all had to get off and wait for another to come by to take us the rest of the way. We ended up talking for about an hour all total. (Musicians, who were in San Francisco during Sept 11 and stranded there for a while as a result.) I think they were glad to have someone to talk with on the boat ride, they were catching a vaporetto from St. Mark's to the airport and were running out on time and getting a little edgy, I helped keep their minds off it a bit while we waited. Hope they made their flight home!

Online I caught up with Caernarvon, he's just recently arrived home from Egypt, some of the rain I saw in France seemed to be related to rain he got hit by in Egypt! The rain here has let up a little, still no sun today though. The clouds are quite dramatic looking though and quite pretty. So unlike San Diego back home, where aside from the periodic anvil thunderhead far to the east you get nothing but patchy blah marine layer haze. May as well not even look above the horizon most of the year. { The band is playing 'Bolero' How very cool! :) } Shame it stopped raining, I was kind of hoping to see St. Mark's flooded. Maybe next time.

Random Thoughts: What's Italian for: Q-Tips? (I've run out! The horror!) I'm also low on deodorant, but that'll last... I hope. I may need a new pen as well, the point on this is getting fussy (is that fuzzy? I can't tell). I'm down to my last spare set of AA's for the camera as well, but am certain they'll last, I just won't upload until I get home or back to 110V power.

Heh, raining again, but my table is under an arch so I'm dry. no more ink runs like that page outside the hotel in Paris. (though, now that I think about it, that was an neat effect.)

Tomorrow: The Doge's Palace then Museo Correr (for the Jackson Pollock Exhibit) and maybe the Guggenheim or the Accademia if one or the other is closed. I think I saw enough of the "Jewish Ghetto" (northwestern quadrant) from the Vaporetto to Murano today, not sure if I'll go stomp that. Been getting a little too much sun lately, I'm looking pretty toasty!

Tsk, I've rambled far too much today. It's this damned cafe! I feel so at home here I don't want to head back to my room! (8PM The Cafe Florian) P.S. I got Gellato, yes, yes, I know. But I had to. Vanilla, Chocolate and Hazelnut. Mmmmm. Nummy! :) Maybe the lemon soda I chased it with will ward off the cow-curse. Fingers crossed!

[The Grand Canal]


Well, maybe not. It's still cloudy. I need to finish up my shopping today before the weekenders descend. (might be to late even, the mob out there is something!) Looking at all this glass has had me thinking over the last few days, given I live 'next door' to the Great American Desert, (and Yuma) land of incredible sun power, just how difficult would it be to create a solar kiln? Imagine the marketing gimmick: Save the trees and the environment! Buy energy efficient solar ceramics! Okay, maybe not that exciting, but much cheaper to make, no? If constructed carefully, it would even naturally anneal the contents in the evening. Worth some thought and research at the least. Land near yuma is cheap, and the venture could




provide for the basics of civilized life: duty, pride, worth, interaction, creativity and rest. Heck, I could even refine my own glass/sand. Hook up with some L.A. artist types, maybe a tourist trap type thing too, "Make your own stained glass window" cooked to order. I've always wanted to design a big house powered off the environment. Food for thought. (10AM - Breakfast at St. Chiara)




Yes, I'm back at the Florian again, just had a tastey lunch of a tuna and olive sandwich-like something. Yummy! As planned I hit the Accademia, the Guggenheim and the Basilica. Next is the Doge's Palace and Museo Correr if there's time. I may wait on them both and just shop a little instead. (Shrug, I've got 3 full days left, I'm in no hurry.) The 3PM bells are ringing out right now.




The Accadamia: Talk about a gold leaf fetish! Massive oils of all sorts of religious topics: "Maria ay Bambino" heh. :)







Guggenheim: A smaller exhibit than I expected. Wild, crazy stuff. One looked very much like the first (and only) painting Albert, Erika and I did together. (no photos sadly)


[Inside St. Mark's]
Basilica: WOW! Gold from the floor up. The floor is what caught and held my attention though. The marble mosaics were incredible, detailed precise, intense and very wobbly, er, wavey. The floor is so buckled and uneven you wonder why the whole place doesn't crumble! Upstairs is almost worse, the catwalks are tipping and leaning. Still, in all its rotting glory, the place is an amazing sight to behold! I even paid the 3euros to see St. Marco's remains (the largest collection of holy relics I have ever seen were packed in there. Skulls, femurs, unidentifiable bits, all in amazing golden and glass treasures. I stole a few pics from the upstairs balcony of the basilica, we'll see if they come out okay.

The sun is out again, but there's a bit of chill in the air, curious. I used to think that "A murderous pace" implied fast. I've revised my opinion. The slow tourist trudge is just killing me! Walking is fine, but strolling makes my back ache. It's just that whole getting old thing again. After all I'll be 35 in under 3 weeks. Groan. Then again, the fellow behind me in the ?relicarium? didn't seem to mind bumping into me repeatedly. (and I still have my wallet too, heh.)

Later: I'm at 'Al Poggio' right on the tourist track. What the hell. The folks eating there seem to be enjoying it. Still amuses me that vino is cheaper than 'Coca'. Anyway, the J.Pollock exhibit at the Museo Correr was pretty big, lots of 'early' works too. As with the Mondrian exhibit in the Musee D'Orsay, it gives a much better feel for how the artist arrived at their particular style. {Scenery Alert: Dang this is a good spot to people watch!} I'm still churning the solar kiln idea over in my head. {There's a mama mutt running in and out of this establishment, poor thing must be hiding from an entire liter of puppies if I'm reading the signs right. That's a lot of motherhood on such a small dog!!}

Okay, I've almost finished my half litre of vino bianco, and boy am I tipsy! I need to be a little more subtle about scamming on the scenery! Either that or more blatant. Either way, I'm set for the night, got my chocolate fix sitting in the bag next to me, no late night prowling for sweets tonight.

It's nice to see a variety of hairstyles again. The 'Scene' in San Diego has become so,er, homogenous, the super-short malepatternbaldness-phobic "sports cut" is so tired. Then again, I'm a clone in that fad. Sigh. {Mama mutt passed by again, with a seniora carrying one of the pups, I got mama's attention and gave her a pat, and the seniora introduced me to the pup too. Such a cutie! The eyes were still closed, or it was sleeping, not sure which. All together now.... Aawwwwww!} Last thought on the people watching topic (for now at least) the dark-hair/skin and super light blue or more commonly green eyes is such a nice combination. If I start doing more representational art, I'll have to play with that combo some. I wonder what to do with the evening, lots of light left, and since I'm obviously allergic to my room, I'd rather delay going back. Man would you just LOOK at my handwriting!? A little vino and it's all terrible! (Worse than it's usually awfulness!) Heh! (7:30PM - Dinner, near Fondamenta de ca Labia)

[St. Mark's Square]

[Balcony of St. Mark's]

[Outside St. Mark's]



[Doge's Palace]

[Top of the Camponile]


77 odd Doge's, elected for life. Goodness, they must have been elected in their senility, how else could you get through so many in such a period of time? And what a strange captive honorary position it eventually became! All in all the elaborate number of rooms for specific offices and committees, the senate, the council of 10, the this, the that... were just too many to remember. My favorites, however, were the shield room, with 2 enormous globes and walls covered with maps of the known world at the time. The feeling of global influence was strong there, obviously. The Senate, a 'simple' corner room was just huge and completely covered in canvases painted specifically for their places (cut to window and door shapes) The 'largest canvas painting in the world' spans one entire wall of the room. (doubt it's still the largest but it's daunting to say the least). The room housed 1200 assemblymen/noblemen. Anyway, by far the most amusing relic I've seen for a while was a combo sword/rifle (see pic) and a mace/muskette combo. Taking my time, I was in there about 3 hours or so. (3PM - The Florian)

A note on eyewear, I guess I relate, I despise eyeglasses that impede my peripheral vision, and I've gotten to used to not seeing prescription glasses in the U.S. (Contacts or eye surgery at work, obviously) So the [heavily tinted] Italian "Bug Eyes" just seem so, well, alien! They're so annoying, particularly when you'd like to see someone's eyes. Ah well. As a lark (on a ?) I just had the waiter take my pic sitting here. The camera is in "stealth mode" no flash, no sound, so I can sneak pics in off limits areas. Confused the poor waiter though, I must have 3 pics of me on there by now. Heh!

I slept in a little today, so it feels earlier than it is really. I shouldn't let that continue or getting up for my flight will be difficult. I need to find another pen already. Argh. So, a few pics of the inside of the Florian, and I'll try to find the museo Archaeology/Architecture whichever, the Doge's Palace pass covers it too. (3:30PM, The Florian, still)

Me again (you were expecting someone else?) I'm just west of the Rialto Bridge, sitting by the grand canal where the farmers market usually is, (in the mornings). A bride-to be and father just went by in a taxi, obviously on the way to the wedding. What would humankind do without powered transportation? Why is it we're so motivated to be elsewhere than where we are? Why is it that a city so infused with water has such dusty streets? {Allergies are kicking up again. Grr} About 6 churches around me just started ringing their bells, it's 5PM, tourist shop shift change time, apparently. I think I'll stroll more this evening, I haven't pushed as hard today. Maybe I'll hear some concerts as I stroll by. (5PM N. of the Rialto Bridge)

(Later) Had dinner on the Ferrovia end of "Tourist Alley" mixed seafood pasta. A tum challenge. Oh well. Afterwards I tried some "Blue Chocolate" I saw it earlier. (tastes just like white, no surprise) I took a lovely boat ride back to St. Mark's. Sunset, one bell-homme after another. Each so thin as to be unsettling. #1: The Macho boyfriend, what's with the goatee? It looks like an upside down ace of spades icon. White Tee & jeans with that goofy bleached in faux-fading that seems overly popular here. (yet another American fashion trend run amuck). He hopped off and was replaced by #2: The Pouting Laborer. Short, Russian looking fellow that hopped off in Venice's "Burbs" and was replaced by: #3: The Coyote, tall, glowing blue eyes, yet more of that faux-faded stuff, lots of silver jewelry and this wannabetoughguyscowl. Definitely heading out to the clubs. The scenery on the trip has been outstanding, I probably wouldn't have bothered mentioning these three, but well, maybe it's the vino from dinner. Whatever it is, it's made for an entertaining boat ride. Oh, and of course, I'm back at the Florian for an aperatif, before hiking back to the room hoping to eaves-drop on a few concerts. (8:45PM The Florian)

Continued: I've ordered a Tiepolo (melon/strawberry concoction) I really wish San Diego had someplace like this. The 4 sides kill the breeze making it just perfect for evening lounging. Granted the prices are a little extreme (4.5 euro cover charge just for music on top of whatever else you order). But hell, you can stay a long time for that too. Let's see, I have 1, maybe 2 items left on the shopping list. One simple, one too open ended to consider. If I see it, whatever 'it' is, I'll know it. I hope!

{Music notes: The band is playing the theme to "Phantom of the Opera" which, now that I've seen it twice, I can honestly say does zip for me. I think the accordion improves the tune. ;) I enjoyed the production, just expected better music.} Two days left is it? Hm. I may head out to one of the other islands tomorrow. {Social sidebar: I'm getting the impression my waiter, (slow to get to me which is unusual here) isn't popular with his peers either. No tip this time then. ;) Music: "My Way" - the theme song of Leo's everywhere! (from: The Bad News Zodiac) } Thinking back on my expectations... I expected St. Mark's to be smaller, more enclosed feeling. I thought more would have changed from the setting portrayed by "Summertime". It's been 50 years after all. There is a lot of construction and commercialism, probably more congestion too, but the character feels like a match. All the way down to the train station.

Ah... twilight transfer time, when the human made illumination overtakes natural lighting. My favorite time of day. Part of me wishes this could last forever, part of me is just starting to yearn for home again. One month is just the right length of time I think. I'm glad I didn't opt for the dozen cities in a dozen days. I feel I've really absorbed a good sense of Paris and now Venice by just allowing time to relax into each city to a degree. Compared to Italians, what a reserved and stoic lot we prudish Americans are. [note: Italians seem far more religious, but far less up tight, I guess you can't have everything] At least we're not as locked up as the English or Norweigns. Of course, I'm off the top of the scale anyway. Perhaps this brush with cultural extroversion will do me good. We can only hope. Everyone I know has been trying to get me to cut loose a little and live. (ie: get laid) Whatever. Whenever. I just need to 'be a guy' and make it happen. Right? Right. Later. I'm busy enjoying life too much to mess it all up with all that. ;) Speaking of living... I wonder if Pope JP2 is trying to off himself with his own grueling tour. Poor guy, wonder what the next pope will be like. Can't be long before one needs to be picked. Ah, I've rambled enough for tonight. {Music: West side story 'Maria'} Ahh. (9:20PM - The Florian)

An hour later. Been wandering back and forth listening to the various bands. The square is half flooded now, making for interesting navigation for the pedestrians. I'm about to wander back and am sitting on a step by the camponile. Some elderly Drunk Italian just started talking to me, I think he thought I was drunk and napping here. (My posture isn't THAT bad is it?) Anyway, I better get moving before he comes back and decides I'm his new bestest drinking buddy. Eww! Ciao! (10:30PM)

3 Hours later: I walked back to Ferrovia via the north route (not crossing the grand canal at all.) Took 20 minutes flat. Decided that was far too easy and returned to St. Mark's via the Rialto Bridge. Easy enough. Didn't time myself on that run, (er, walk) though. It was drizzling heavily by the time I got there. The ?Carbonari? (police) had my 'wannabedrinking-buddy' cornered. He looked none too thrilled. [At this point my pen started fading rapidly] Augh!!! Pen Death! Does this one work? ARHG.. Nope. Does this one work? Yeah, but it's a fatty, ugh. May as well write with crayon if I'm stuck with this. ;)


[The Ferrovia Bridge]

[The Rialto Bridge Area]

[The Accademia Bridge]
Okay, so, rain, and St. Mark's is now 2/3rds flooded. The 'dueling bands' have a clear victor: The Florian. The audiences of the other bands have been driven off by floodwater. They say that having the higher ground is a military advantage, hah! So, I peeked at the vaporetto docks and saw the water slopping up over the sidewalks. Looked kinda like a beach, almost. The square, however, is flooded by water seeping up from between the cobblestones, not washing in from the canal, a very weird effect. The basilica grew a moat pretty early on, and puddles just began appearing in random places shortly after. I wonder if the inside of the basilica floods too when this happens. Might explain the uneven floors! Anyway The plan was to return to the hotel via the Accadamia Bridge. I would have crossed the grand canal's 3 bridges once and had a nice stroll home, but I couldn't find the durned Accadamia Bridge! Sigh. So, near it, I hopped on a vaporetto, saw the bridge, and as the #1 boat was going the wrong way for me, I hopped off at the next stop across the canal and continued on foot. I would wager the Accadamia Bridge route is the shortest... but least well marked of the three. This clearly makes it the 'local's favorite' as the rush hour foot traffic I observed on wed (?thurs?) would attest. So, now I'm back, dryish, charging the iPod, (having stayed in S. Mark's so long I didn't hear any nearby concerts on leg 1 of the walk back I was listening to the iPod on legs 2 and 3). Apparently, I've used it since last charge, it gave out halfway through leg 3. I could write more about the loud American teens at the table next to mine at dinner going on about Amsterdam and parent troubles, or I could detail out the highly amusing drunken Italian school kids and some of their obviously unreciprocated affections (by the camponile) but instead, I think I'll just hit the sack. (1:15AM - My room)