Day 19, Early hours of 18-07
Thankfully the last leg to Venice was quick though. Finally met up with Nush! Yayay. I have also realised I know not a word of Italian either! We took a water bus to our hotel which is very close to the famous Rialto bridge, and not far from St. Mark’s Square, one of the most beautiful squares in the world. It was super exciting being on a boat, in Venice and all.. Venice is truly unique. We spent a good part of the afternoon trying to find our freaking hotel – with the whole no roads thing, all the buildings are super close to each other; pedestrian ways are alleyways flanked by old concrete buildings and often not wider than a metre! It’s hard to orientate yourself and the easiest way is to remember by the shops you walk past… Every 40m or so you will hit a little bridge, where you can peer down to residential ‘lanes’ and see gondolas or local boats cruising around the waterways. If you’re lucky you will get a gondola opera singer too! Street signs like most of Europe are written on building corners, but these were just ultra confusing! Half the time there are about 3 or 4 different roads listed on one corner and it’s difficult to tell where they mean. We FINALLY found it after a tiresome and hot walk circling ourselves many times. It was definitely a SO close yet so far situation! Had a little walk around our area and got pizza and gelato from SUSO nom nom. There are SO many tourists here, I feel like all the locals have gone into hiding. Every second street facing shop is a gelato stand or café cabinet filled with pizza, deliciously massive rolls, baps, calzones with the most indulgent fillings. And every alternating shop with that sells Venetian Masks or Murano glass bits and bobs!
First views coming in by waterbus
<3 SUSO
Rialto Bridge
Fresh tomato, mozzarella, basil
Day 20, 19-07
After a delishy strawberry pastry from a great find of a patisserie, we walked to St. mark’s square. Unfortunately it was into the morning at this point and the square was already filled with people, lining up to get into the surrounding buildings (Palazzo Ducale, Basilica di San Marco) or just staring in wonderment. One side of the square looks over the Grand Canal where lines of gondolas wait to take tourists on a joyful ride. There is also a great view of the Santa Maria della Salute. We spent much of this day walking around and discovering, through a few alley ways, over a bridge, into a square etc etc. This was awesome as you stumble across awesome things; at one point I was standing in a square and I could hear a fantastic pianist practicing up in his house somewhere above me. We ended up walking across to the Accademia museum, which houses five centuries of Venetian paintings, from the medieval Byzantine period through the Renaissance and the Baroque. Stopped to have delicious tapas by some waterway. The Venice Biennale is currently on, with artists’ works around the whole of Venice as well as the two main sites the Arsenale and Giardini. We happened to stumble across NZ’s contribution to the Biennale near the Accademia, works by NZ artist Michael Parakowhai. You may recognise the security guard as a similar installation to what was up in Engineering at Auckland Uni for a little while! He also did three piano and bull installations. It was esp cool cos the girl who was supervising it was from Wellington! Finally found a semi dece mask shop, which apparently produced the masks for the movie Eyes Wide Shut. Was exhausted by this stage so finally found our way back to the hotel and had a NAP. For dinner we just went to a little local about 20m away, then I went to a Baroque strings concert by Interpreti Veneziani. I haven’t heard of them before but they were legit! It was nice to hear the four seasons with a fantastic soloist, and there was also Corelli and Bach. Think I’m gonna have to start up again when I’m home… Going to these concerts every now and then makes me a better person in the most non superficial of ways, and if I’m going to go in any place in the world it must be Venice. Walked back in the rain, getting lost a few times of course, but I also walked back past St. Mark’s Square where a James Taylor concert was on! (lame in the rain). But I listened to a bit of Sweet Baby James which was pretty magical.
Palazzo Ducale
View from Grand Canal to Santa Maria della Salute
Michael Parekowhai at the Venice Biennale 2011
One of the hundreds of Venice masks shops
Interpreti Veneziani
Day 21, 20-07
Slept in again… Today me and Nush did our own thing. I walked across to where the Arsenale and Giardini sites were to see more of the Venice Biennale. There was a RIDICULOUS amount to see here! But it was SO worth it, the best of which included another JAMES TURRELL which was a lot more experiential than the last too!! There was a longtastic 1 and a quarter hour wait for it as only 3 people could go in at a time. Picture: a short fat ramp enclosed in a soft cornered cube, light at both ends, a drop at one end, type thing. The light changed; it was beautiful. There was also Urs Fischer, with his burning wax Roman statues. Across at Giardini were mainly pavilions contributed by many different countries. There were also works by Sigmar Polke (have not seen him since school!). I feel like I could round off today by saying: In conclusion, there was a lot of art, and it was fantastic. I was planning on visiting the Peggy Guggenheim this arvo but to be honest I am fully arted out. I walked home along the Grand Canal and got a canoli from the same patisserie as yesterday. There are too many food places to choose from here and most of them are overpriced tourist traps, so once we find a good one, we stick! Came back and had a nap then went to get SUSO and also in search with of the perfect pizza, success just over the Rialto Bridge!
Entrance to the Arsenale
Turrell you are so beautiful
Urs Fischer
Crazy cafe
Cannoli - ricotta filling with candied fruit and chocolate
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