1 post tagged “venice”

I then took the elevator up to the top of the Campanile, and arrived exactly at noon. There was this enormous bell banging out the hour about 10 feet above my head! The view from up there was pretty amazing. See the shadow of the Campanile over Venice?
The Doge's Palace was my next stop:

The art was amazing, and I walked on the Bridge of Sighs to get to the prison. This is the staircase where the Doge was crowned:

I then took a vaporetto to Rialto, to find a lunch place I read about in Lonely Planet. What made me pick that place? Apparently, I was supposed to meet this couple: She's British, he's Italian, and she knows a family I grew up with in New York! Very small world. I ate ciccheti, or Venetian nibbly bits, and prosecco.

I then crossed the Rialto Bridge to get to the San Polo neighborhood:

where I wandered to get to Scuola Grande. There was a bit too much gold, but I loved the wooden statues depicting all of mankind's vices and virtues. I also visited the nearby Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari.

The weather turned a bit chilly when the sun went down, so I made my way to the Campo San Margherita to get another prosecco. I realized after leaving the bar that I had never paid, and could not find my way back. I hoped one of two things: that either a) it was so cheap that they wouldn't really miss the money, or b) that it was so expensive that it serves them right for overcharging tourists. My mind is a scary place.

I took the vaporetto back to the neighborhood where my hotel is, Castello, and dipped in and out of dark alleys. I found a mask store that designed the masks for Eyes Wide Shut, and bought a wee little Pinocchio mask. So cute! I window-shopped at all the luxury stores near San Marco and then walked in circles trying to find a reasonably priced restaurant that did not boast a "tourist menu" in five languages. I got really pissed at one place that refused to seat me anywhere but a dark corner by the bathroom just because I was alone. The place was half empty but they wouldn't give me a good seat so I left. Idiots.

I turned back to my trust Lonely Planet, and picked a place they recommended that was just a bit out of my price range. And I am so so so glad I did! It was absolutely delicious. I had warm calamari salad with haricot verts and a sweet balsamic dressing, followed by linguine with the teeniest clams ever. Each clam was about the size of one of my fingernails, and the sauce was kind of a spicy, buttery goodness. Dessert was chocolate pudding cake with a glass of port on the house. It was seriously one of the best meals I've had since getting to Europe.

And all that was just the first day!

The next day, the 23rd, I had breakfast in the same cafe and then took the vaporetto to San Giorgio, to see Palladio's church and the Titians in the sacristy. I rode up to the bell tower there, too, and got these great views of Venice: Inside there was a guy practicing the violin on the altar, and the acoustics were amazing. Can you see him up there, on the left?
And a picture of the church as the vaporetto pulled away:

Walking into Santa Maria della Salute a beggar followed me, saying, "but it's for the Virgin Mary, signora! It's not for me! For the virgin!" I wonder what would have happened if I'd told her I'm Jewish.

I found a really cute little art store and bought myself some small lithographs, and a bunch of Christmas presents at a handmade paper store.

I got to the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, and fell in love. I've never really liked Pollacks before, but she had three that were incredible. Her whole collection is great, and if you ever go to Venice you have to see it. I started to tour the Accademia, but was literally too hungry to continue. I took a quick cake break, and then was able to enjoy myself. The ceiling in the first room is covered in hundreds of carved angels, each one with a different face. After about an hour I recognized the signs of art overload, after a day filled with Titian, Tintoretto, etc, and left.

I took the vaporetto to Ca D'Oro, and caught a bit of the sunset on the Grand Canal. I walked around the Cannaregio neighborhood, and saw this intercom system on most of the buildings. It's a happy little robot!

I decided to track down a lace specialty store, but the prices must have gone up since the review was written cause it was way out of my budget. The whole area, though, felt much more "authentic" than San Polo or San Marco, more like where the real Venetians live. I saw lots of people running into each other doing Christmas shopping and wishing each other Merry Christmas, and there were lots of kids and dogs.

I was looking for a restaurant, but the numbers literally skipped the address I had! As in, the street went from 192 to 194, and I was looking for 193. I walked back and forth several times, and then gave up. The funny thing is that the restaurant is called Paradiso Perduto, which means Lost Paradise. And it was lost! Hehehe.

I found another place where I ate creamed cod with polenta, which was a bit too creamed, and then amazing pumpkin risotto with black truffles and shrimp. So good. I couldn't fully enjoy it, though, because I was hit with an enormous wave of fatigue. I felt vaguely sick, and decided to head back early to my hostel. On the way to the vaporetto I walked through the old Jewish quarter, where I saw 4 policemen and a nun, but no Jews.

Once I got off the San Zaccaria stop, near my hostel, I heard singing coming from the small church in the campo there. I went in and enjoyed the last 10 minutes of a Christmas concert. It was about two dozen old men with either no or grey hair, singing everything from Jingle Bells in Italian to Joy to the World in English. It was very cute, and I wish I'd heard more.

After a terrible night's sleep due to Christiano, the Brazilian in my room who snores, I walked through Castello to get to the vaporetto to Murano. Check out this old doorway.  On the way to Murano we passed all these little deserted islands. I wonder what it must have been like to live in the house?
Once on Murano I followed a group of rich Italian tourists to their private glass blowing exhibition. I guess they didn't feel comfortable kicking me out? This dude blew two vases and two glass horses, and then smashed them! I was bummed. I bought a pretty vase, and picked up some pizza for lunch. Only pizza isn't really doing it justice. It was a big hunk of fluffy bread smeared with tomato and topped with fresh mushrooms, olives, and a few dollops of fresh cheese. It came wrapped in brown paper, which made it taste even better. It was so sunny that I had to take off my coat!

I then took another vaporetto to Burano, which is famous for its lace. The houses there are really brightly colored, like in Colmar. The vaporetto back to Venice took a while, and everyone fell asleep. Check it out: I ate the cookies I bought, which were butter pastry with apricot jam, dipped in dark chocolate. I also noticed this completely irrational fear I had of my camera falling in the water. Every bridge I walked over, like this one: made me panic that my camera would somehow lurch out of my hands and plunge into the water. Or worse, that I would throw it in. My right hand definitely didn't trust my left hand, and so I kept both hands clasped every time I crossed a bridge. Very bizarre.

I had hoped to make it to Ca Pesoro before it closed, but no such luck. Since I definitely plan on going back to Venice at some point it's not a big deal, but I would have loved to see it. I got completely lost in San Polo looking for the vaporetto, but finally made it to the Christmas concert I was looking for, eight minutes before it was over! That sucked. It also sucked that nothing was open on Christmas Eve, and I literally could not find a restaurant. I ended up eating sandwiches standing up at the bar across the street from my restaurant.

Just as I was finished my second glass of prosecco a large group of Italians came in, obviously already drunk. There was one woman I absolutely could not stop staring at. Normally when people want to drink, they just open their lips. This woman had filled her lips up with so much collagen she had to literally MOVE them. Like, they were an obstruction to her intake of food and beverage. I estimate that they were the size of a small lemon, but you'll never believe me since I couldn't take a picture. Seriously, though, I've never seen anything like it. She also had a nose stud and a tattooed birth mark near her lip, a la Cindy Crawford. Oh, did I mention she was in her late 50s, at least?

I noticed a bizarrely large number of dogs in Venice, considering that there is absolutely no green for them to play in. There are also bells constantly going off. It seemed like some of them were completely arbitrary, like at 6:12 or 5:38. I know that the clocks are all a bit off, but no matter where I went, or at what time, there were church bells ringing. It was pretty cool.

After a long day I went back to my hostel room and talked with my roommates. Christiano is 33, from Brazil, and studying in Barcelona. Philippa is 22, from Manchuria, and studying in Holland. They were both really cool, and we shared travel stories. Christiano called me a little nerd cause I have a blog.

I woke up on Monday, Christmas day, and realized that my train was about 3 hours earlier than I had previously thought. I snapped a quick picture of the Bridge of Sighs: peeped in at San Zaccaria, and booked it to the train station. I saw at least three men wearing capes. As in, they were not wearing winter coats. Their chosen form of insulation was a cape. With the flowing. Only in Venice.

I took the train to Milan, where I had an hour wait. The Milan train station was really pretty.
The train ride from Milan to Chambery was beautiful. Italy looked like a Bob Ross painting. Happy little trees and pink puffs of cloud. After about eleven hours of traveling, I arrived in the French Alps. But that story will have to wait for another day.