Venice - The Sinking City

On Friday Sarah took us all to Venice for a day trip. We drove until we hit Mestre, which is the city right before you cross over onto the island itself. We parked there and took the train into the city. Parking in actual Venice is highway robbery (I sound like my mother). Anyway, as we left the train station we stopped by the Gheto Vechio first, but that’s a little sad so I’ll start this entry with the family on the Rialto Bridge:

A sunny day in Venice, who knew! For those of you who have been to Venice before, you know there’s a main canal that runs through the city called the Grand Canal (or Canal Grande). There are only three bridges that cross the Grand Canal, and the Rialto Bridge is one of them. We worked our way through the crowds to get a good shot. Because the weather was nice it seemed like twice as many people were out, so we used our elbows.

As we made our way to the Gheto Vechio we stopped by a few markets to check out the local fare:

He was schooling us on all the different types of veggies and plants - not my area of expertise.

And here is a shot of the Venetian housewives hanging their laundry. They actually live here so it's not so abnormal to them:

And then all the yummy cookies:

Then we make it to the Gheto Vechio finally. I keep harping on this because of its history. It’s considered to be the first ghetto in the world and also the best kept. At one time, Venetian Jews were confined to a walled area of the city and made to wear red or yellow marks sewn onto their clothing to identify them as Jewish. They’ve torn down much of the walls, but you can still see a little bit of it in this picture:

It’s crazy to walk through this area and look at the small passageways that used to be closed at night. The funny thing was that the Jews were accountants and dealt with all of the Venetian money during the day, and then at night they would be led into this area and these huge doors would close behind them and lock. It gives me claustrophobia just thinking about it.

At this point we were ready for some food. I’m still loving the fact that Dad wanted to get the full effect of each Italian city - because of this we got to eat in Piazza San Marco. Here we are waiting for our ridiculously expensive tiny little sandwiches:

That’s the Basilica di San Marco in the background. When you come to Europe you see a lot of churches, but this one seriously stands out from the rest (save for St. Peter’s in Rome). It’s called the Church of Gold (Chiesa d’Oro) because it’s completely covered in gold mosaic. All of the artwork you see on the front of the church is made by combining tiny little specks of gold in different colors. It’s one of the most richly embellished churches in the world.

When I came here the first time Sarah and I walked through the tiny rooms inside the basilica that house religious relics from as far back as you can go. We were trying to find the oldest thing in there, and I think I remember some of the communion cups dating back to the B.C. era.

While we ate outside we were serenaded by a lovely jazz band:

I felt like we should be in a dark club somewhere in NYC, but it went well with the wine :).

After lunch we walked down to the end of the Piazza San Marco to catch a water taxi back to the train station. Here we are standing there with San Giorgio Maggiore in the background:

This church was actually designed by Palladio (for those of you who just read the Vicenza entry). I’ve heard that if you visit this church you can take the elevator to the top for an amazing view of the island of Venice, the lagoon and the Doge’s Palace across the water. You basically cannot go anywhere in this city without enjoying a good view of something...

So now we come to my favorite part of the Venice trip, the water taxi. I know everyone comes to Venice thinking they need to take one of the gondolas, but those things are crazy expensive. Like 65 euro a person at the cheapest. So a 6.50 euro water taxi down the same Grand Canal works for me. If you can make your way to the front of the taxi, like we did:

then you can see the best views of the canal. The first time I did this I took about 50 pictures of random buildings, got home and had no idea what it was I’d snapped. But it’s so pretty!

Right before we left Ryan picked up a traditional Venetian mask for one of his friends (don’t ask me why that would be something a boy would want). Here he is making sure it fit:

Isn’t it just like David Bowie in the Labyrinth?? Ok now I just realized why he bought it…

A few random pictures

Dad, Mom and Ryan definitely took advantage of their time here. Ryan got dragged into playing with the boys on the trampoline:

And Dad can't ever sit still, so he took to the bushes outside of the house. Only problem was that they didn't have any tools to trim the shrubs - he used scissors instead. That man never stops gardening!

Mom took some great pictures of the area while we were driving around. Most of these are on the way to VP's school, which is still one of my favorite spots. He calls this way the "twisty turny way" because it winds through several different farms and plantations. Check out all of the vineyards:

Downtown Vicenza and picking up some wine

After Rome we were pretty exhausted, but we only had a few more days with the parents in town so we hit downtown Vicenza. Every Thursday is their big city market, which looks like this:

We walked around this area for a while perusing all the items. I love these markets for several reasons, one of which is that everything is ultra cheap. And they have everything, from baby clothes to pots and pans…I usually stick to the clothes and shoes. Dad liked the flowers:

Then after the markets we walked through downtown for a while:

Vicenza is a really pretty town and this was the first time I had been there when everyone is out and about. One thing I’ve noticed here is that people get dressed up regardless of what they’re doing, which I love. You’ll see ladies in high heels and tight, sparkly pants in the middle of the day. Old men will dress in suits and wear their long jackets over their shoulders. Not too many casual jeans and shirts, which is why we stood out, once again.

Couple things about Vicenza: it's the home of one of the greatest architects of the High Renaissance, Andrea di Peitro, or Palladio. His works are all over the city and he's influenced works in America as well (Jefferson's Monticello and various plantation homes in the South.). He even has his own style - Palladianism. You see his name everywhere around here. The mall is named after him, which I think is kinda weird...

We also stopped by the Teatro Olimpico, or Olympic Theater. This was Palladio’s masterpiece and final work, and is also one of the world’s greatest theaters still in use:

Then we visited the fabulous Antico Bar del Corso to see Cynthia. Here she is with Sarah:

Cynthia came to Italy from Illinois to check it out…and has now been here for over 25 years. She owns a coffee shop/bar in downtown Vicenza, which has fantastic cappuccinos and little appetizers and desserts. I haven’t tried the main lunch/dinner items yet but I’m sure I will at some point. We like to come here a lot :).

After our little coffee break we decided to head up to Monte Berico. This is a hill overlooking all of Vicenza, and also has a church, the Santuario di Monte Berico, at the top. Here we are in front of it:

And a few views from the top:

Just down the hill is where I take my Italian lessons. Senora Daniela lives right off of the road leading up to the church in this beautiful villa. We’re pretty sure she’s got some money because the house and the gardens are gorgeous. I’ve just started going to her house, twice a week to practice my Italian with a small group.

Anyway, we had lunch on Monte Berico and then headed back toward home with a quick stop at Muraro Brothers. This is a similar wine place to where Sarah took me last fall, but apparently this is his brother’s section of vineyards,which is much bigger. I guess the brothers don’t talk, and we don’t know why…not sure why they still call it Muraro Brothers, but whatev. We picked out some wine for dinner that night. This is Dad and I in front of the place:

And here are a few pics of us taste testing:

See the one above with Sarah filling the jumbo bottle? Here’s how much it cost:

Like I said, the wine here is cheap (that's 80 cents - they use commas where we use periods and periods where we use commas). It’s like they took away the never-ending supply of Coke products we have in the states and replaced it with wine at dinner. No complaints here! Next post will show you why the wine is so abundant. We are surrounded by vineyards, and the sights are beautiful.

Here are few pics of the fam, still at Muraro Brothers. It’s an amazing area:

Rome, Day 2

On our second day in Rome we got up early for breakfast at our hotel and headed out to meet up with the same tour group we had for the Colosseum and Roman Forum. It ended up taking longer than we thought to drop off our bags at the train station, so we missed the deadline for the group to meet. We were a little bummed, but still hopped the train to Vatican City anyway, popped up onto the street and there they were! We should have known tour group leaders are the most visible people in Rome. We were able to join the group for the morning tour of Vatican City.

Since we came on a Wednesday, I thought we’d be lucky enough to avoid some of the crowds. I was wrong. As we entered the Museum there were swarms of people everywhere, and the majority of them were foreign teenage groups. Teenagers tend to annoy me to begin with, but when I don’t understand what they’re saying and they laugh at EVERYTHING, I'm ready to claw my eyes out.

Touring this place has been a mission of mine for years, though. I’ve been to Rome a couple of times before this one, and each time the Sistine Chapel has been closed. I make it halfway around the world to Rome and I’m denied again and again!

The finale of our Vatican Museum tour this morning is the Sistine Chapel, so touring with these groups would have to do.

The first area we visited were a few of the gardens. Here are some pictures:

You can tell when sculptors from this period have reproduced a statue from the original bronze model if they’re standing next to a stump or something similar at their feet.

A statue of that size can’t stand on the legs alone because of the weight of the marble. In the one above you can see the tree stump at the bottom, and the robe he has draped over his left arm is also necessary to hold up the weight of the arm.

This one is the only statue they have that still has its glass eyes:

Almost all of the sculptures had glass eyes at one point and were usually painted. Also, check out the fig leaf. I can't remember who our guide said it was, but when he had control over the Museum he had all the little pee-pees replaced with fig leaves, therefore ruining each and every sculpture. When they realized what had been done they just decided to keep the leaves on in order to avoid further damage. So now most of them remain decent for the kids.

We were then led through various rooms in the Museum, which was a nightmare. Just picture about a thousand people trying to fit through several regular-sized doorways. It’s comparable, maybe even worse, than the Red line before a Cubs game in Chicago. About halfway through I was retreating to my happy place, singing the David Archuleta song in my head (“Lalalalaaaaa, happy plaaaace“). There’s only so much jostling and squishing you can take before you just want to bang your head up against a wall. At one point dad got caught up on an older, overeager German couple who literally snapped his headphone wire in half.

While we were fighting the people Mom took some pretty good pictures:

This is the original School of Athens by Raphael:

I think this was called the Hall of Maps - they have maps of the world lining the walls:

Then we finally made it to the Sistine Chapel! No pictures here because we weren’t allowed, but you’ve seen the paintings many times I’m sure. You’re not supposed to really talk either, so there was a big “SHHHH” about every 30 seconds from the museum guards to all the flippin' teenagers. The four of us found some benches and collapsed. It felt like we’d been in battle for the last two hours, and only had enough energy to crane our necks and stare at the ceiling with our mouths wide open.

As we left we were shown the hallways that all foreign dignitaries and other important people take to meet with the Pope. This is the first leg:

This is the final, with the Pope’s doors at the top:

As we left the Vatican Museum we were in need of food and sedatives. We took care of the first at a sidewalk café. We were all tired and scowling at each other. It was that moment of travel when the allure of a place gives way to reality. Nothing was “cool and Italian” anymore, we just wanted a hamburger.

If you remember from earlier, you know how my mother is with the street beggars here. She never meets a stranger. So as the accordion/fiddle players approach our table my dad barks, “Donna don’t turn around, I’m not paying for it!” It wasn’t funny to any of us at the time but it’s pretty darn entertaining now :).

Next we made our way over to St. Peter’s Basilica. Here I am standing in front of it:

I never knew this before, but the square in front of the Basilica marks the area where Christians were crucified for their beliefs centuries before. Pretty moving.

A couple of the Swiss guards:

St. Peter’s hold the remains of every pope that’s ruled the Catholic Church, and it’s massive. Here’s a picture of Mr. “I’m sick of looking at churches” Poppe touring the place:

To be honest though we were all blown away as we walked in. Every time I’m there I am, it’s just so big and beautiful. We make our way around the main floor and then head to the Vatican grottoes below. It is assumed that the remains of St. Peter himself are housed here. You have to be very quiet as you walk the grottoes because there are many people in prayer, the majority of them praying to Pope John Paul II who was laid to rest here after his death in 2005.

The first time I made it to the grottoes was on accident. I was in college and wandering the place with a few other girls. We found the exit (not the entrance) to the grottoes and ended up interrupting a devotional session to St. Peter by literally walking between the praying monks and St. Peter's remains. I’d just finished reading The DaVinci Code and was convinced we were going to be cursed by the highest order of monks in the Catholic Church! We never did get in trouble, though. Again, another story that’s funnier now than it was then.

The last part of our tour of St. Peter’s was the cupola. This is quite a hike up hundreds of stairs to the absolute top of the church. But it’s worth it for the view:

This is my new Italian boyfriend, for those of you who’ve asked.

In this one you can see in the distance the Roman Forum and the Colosseum (look for the big white building in the top left and then you’ll see the top, dark gray ring of the Colosseum just to the right):

Then on the way down we caught the inside corridor looking down on the main area of the church interior. There were a few cardinals gathered so it turned out to be a really cool picture:

At this point we’d almost come to the end of the day. We had seriously covered Vatican City and St. Peter’s and were ready to chill out. We made our way to the station, found our train and settled in for the five hour ride back to Vicenza. I made sure to take little Davey Archuleta off my playlist; I'd had enough of him for one day.