Venezia

Venice is the first stop on the Morgan "Tour di Italy".  We spent the day here yesterday and today (Friday and Saturday) and ship out tomorrow morning (actually train out) for Florence.  I wanted to summarize both days with one post so I had some perspective.

So yesterday exhausted kids and parents took a nap after arrival at our apartment.  By the time we woke up and Ryan ran to the corner store to get some provisions for lunch (grilled cheese), we didn't have time to do much before our tour with Venice Free Walking Tours at 5:00pm.  I was hoping to make it to Ca Macana to paint Venetian masks but the children were a little hard to wake and we didn't have time in the end.  Instead, we walked to Piazza San Marco (San Marco Square) to have a look around and then head off to our tour meeting place.

Drew waiting outside Ca' Vittoria

Ca'Vittoria from the outside.  Our apartment was on the ground floor.

I really researched our accommodations because I like to stay in places with a good price point that have some character - no hotel for us.  We are staying in a very vibrant district, the Canneregio, (Ca' Vittoria on Airbnb).  The pro is that it is in a very non-touristic part of Venice so we get to see a bit of how the local people live, the con is that is it a 30 minute walk or Vaporetto ride to any of the tourist attractions.  Also, the air conditioning is "central" to the extreme meaning that the entire building is on the same unit that automatically comes on at some time during the day (does it?) and then shuts off at night.  It has also been in the 80's outside so opening the windows does nothing but let mosquitoes in.  Ryan is a delicate flower and really can't stand being hot outside during the day and especially detests being hot inside his dwelling.  This has been hard.  It is at least 80 degrees inside the apartment now with stagnant, humid air.  Maybe next time we stay at the JW Marriott on the Grand Canal...

So when we walked to Piazza San Marco yesterday there was a lot of complaining from one short person in particular that this was the very worst day of her entire life.  Boy could not voice this complaint because it had been used multiple times on our flight over when he was unable to fall asleep and had hiccups.  I can tell you that those comments do not fan the flames of a mother's soul.  I did try to keep in mind that I was so tired I really wanted to slit my wrists and, at times, had problems not falling over while walking, so I tried to just let it slide.  Ryan handled it all very well.  We drank expensive bottled water at Piazza San Marco sitting (Ryan bought frizzante on accident not knowing that it meant bubbly so we had to buy more water).

We met our guide, Andrea, at the Campo SS Apostoli with about 23 other people.  He was a young man, probably a college student, who told us stories of the history of Venice and tried to lead us off the beaten path so we could get to know the "real Venice".  At the end of the three hour tour you give him what you think is fair for the tour and then part ways.  I think Ryan and I enjoyed it but the children were drastically less enthused.  Because it was getting so late and they were exhausted, dinner consisted of a sandwich for Ryan and I and a cheese pizza for them during a 20 minute stop in the middle of the tour. It was not fine dining but Ryan and I got to try our first "Spritz" which is a traditional Venetian cocktail made from white wine, soda water, and either Aperol or Campari.  Those of your from dinner club who know our intolerance for Campari in a Negroni (we call it a Ne-grody) know that we choose Aperole every time.  It is a refreshing drink but I do not understand serving a giant green olive on a stick alongside an orange slice.

View of the Grand Canal

A gondola shipyard

 I find it amazing that the engineers of Venice were able to build a city upon these little islands in a lagoon.  The first step was to sink giant trees (think the size of telephone poles) in the ground vertically for stability.  They then covered the holes with stones to keep the water out so that the wood would not rot.  The buildings themselves need to be made of pliable materials to account for the shift that occurs being not quite on solid land. 

When you live in a city built on water you have to get creative about making space.

Buttresses like this have been added between buildings to keep them from falling into each other.

The fire department going out on a call

 Because there is so much wood in the city and fires can be so hard to control you are not allowed to have fired anywhere in the city.  Our tour guide warned us that the pizza would not be great because they can not use the traditional wood-fired pizza oven.  Fresh water, until recently, was in short supply as it was basically recovered rain water that was filtered through sand and stones and found in wells in all of the squares.  When you fight a fire with lagoon water, which is salty, the salt gets inside the bricks and causes them to crack.  So, you might save the building from burning down or stop the fire from spreading but then you have to demolish the building and rebuild.

A gondolier

The Rialto bridge - undergoing some renovation on this side.  Up until the time of Napoleon I think this was the only bridge in Venice - people did not really get around by walking but almost entirely by boat.

Waiting for the Vaporetto boat (Venice's version of the subway or bus)

Our tour ended at 730 and then we took the Vaporetto back to our neighborhood.  It took no less time but there was more standing (on a water taxi boat) instead of walking so it seemed easier - even if it required a trip to a bank to get cash.  While I was getting the kids ready for bed, Ryan flipped a light switch on and tripped a breaker for the apartment and we were plunged into darkness.  We sent an urgent text to Roberto, the owner of the flat, and he sent his mother over to help us.  She didn't speak a word of English and ran through the house and to the basement to try to fix it.  She was flummoxed by the problem and ran upstairs to ask a neighbor.  Apparently there are two breaker boxes in the basement and the neighbor kindly showed her the other one and the electricity came back on.  Kids showered and were in bed by 10:00.  I stayed up until about 1230 doing laundry in a stinky washing machine (it smelled better after I left the door open while I consulted the internet and Facebook as to whether doing laundry in it would ruin my clothes or not) and then setting it out to dry.

Today I started raising the blinds around 900 to coax the kids out of bed.  Everyone got up okay but no one could convince Trevor to eat breakfast because his body did not feel it was time to eat breakfast.  The rest of us had scrambled eggs at home and some pastries.  Then we set off walking for Piazza San Marco again.  My agenda for the day was St. Mark's Basilica, the Doge's Palace, a Vaporetto ride across to an other island to climb a tower to see the view of Venice, then to make masks at Ca Macana.  When we saw the line for St. Mark's Drew almost died on the spot.  We realized that the line had been much shorter the previous afternoon and decided to put it off.  We then headed to the Doge's Palace.

The Doge was the elected head of state for the Republic of Venice back in the day.  This was pretty progressive for its time and the people of Venice did not believe that his power was from God as most European countries believed of their leaders.  All of the aristocracy participated in the basic level of the legislature, The Great Council.  From among the Great Council, those with an appetite or knack for legislating could be elected to a higher body, the Senate.  Later there was also The Council of 10 which was basically given the power to arrest and try people in private with no accountability to anyone.  The Doge's Palace is more than a palace - is was the seat of the entire government - the legislative, judicial, and executive branches.  This is where the famous Bridge of Sighs is - the bridge that led from the Doge's Palace across a canal to prison.

The inside courtyard of the Doge's Palace - no good shot of the outside due to construction.  Like many places in Europe (I'm thinking of the Papal Palace in Avignon) there are different types of architecture on different sides due to construction in different eras and fires and reconstruction.  Part of this is Venetian Gothic and part is Renaissance.  In the background you can see the dome of St. Mark's Cathedral (the body of St. Mark is buried in there somewhere).

This is the Golden Staircase where nobility would enter the Doge's Palace.

This tiny hold in the wall (literally) is where you could slip a piece of paper accusing someone of something.  The Council of 10 meeting room was on the other side.  They would privately meet and consider written statements of the accused and the accusers and decide your fate.  You were not allowed to defend yourself in person - sounds like a bad situation.

Here is the door from the Council of 10 where they would retrieve the accusations.

At one time this was the largest room in Europe that was not supported by columns.  It is huge and I cannot believe the engineering that would be involved in holding that ceiling up.  Beautiful artwork everywhere.  This is where the Great Council met (except in the summer when it was too hot and they met somewhere else).

Here is a cell in the prison.  This one is nicer than most of the others as it actually has little beds.  Casanova is the only person known to escape from this prison.

Trevor in happy in the Bridge of Sighs because he is leaving!

We opted for the audiotour at the Doge's Palace which was probably a mistake for the little ones.  The language was a little advanced and it made the visit long.  Drew was very restless by the end.  Then it was time for lunch.  We found a little restaurant near St. Mark's Square that didn't seem too touristy.  Ryan and I split a ciabatta sandwich and some arancini and the kids enjoyed prosciutto and cheese sandwiches.  Then we headed back to St. Mark's where the line, thankfully, was much shorter.  There are clearly signs everywhere that you are not to wear shorts or sleeveless things, as it is a church and they expect appropriate attire.  I had made Ryan wear pants, much to his dismay, and was irritated to find that they let all kinds of men in with shorts.  Seems they stopped only the young pretty girls with dresses above the knee or sleeveless and made them put on a paper wrap.  I guess the sexism isn't surprising given the source.  You aren't allowed to take pictures inside St. Mark's (surprisingly most people seemed to ignore this rule too) so I don't have any.  We were lucky to get in at around 245 right before they closed it at 300 for something.

St. Mark's Basilica.  The 4 horses, which represent the 4 evangelicals (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) were originally stolen from Constantinople during the sacking of that town in the 4th Crusade in 1204.  Then they were stolen by Napoleon but brought back in 1815.  The ones outside now are actually replicas and the originals are inside the loggia of the church as they have been restored and they want to keep them nice.

The clocktower in St. Mark's Square.  The clock changes every 5 minutes.  It also tracks the phases of the moon.

Standing on the loggia of St. Mark's.  The tower of St. Mark's is in the background.  That thing toppled completely over in 1902 and was rebuilt.  It is where Galileo first tested his telescope in 1609!

View of the square from the basilica loggia.

 After this Drew was really begging to skip the boat ride to St. George's island to climb the tower for the wonderful view.  We took a family vote and agreed to skip the tower and proceed to the Dorsoduro district to Ca Macana to learn the ancient art of Venetian Mask Making.  The masks are made by hand in the studio using a type of papier mache and then coated with a white base coat.

The kids posing with Il Dottore della Peste

 Drew knew before we got there that she either wanted to make a pig or a fox as she had seen completed ones in the shop window.  They were out of pigs so she made a fox.  Trevor knew he wanted to make one similar to the Plague Doctor mask but it took his a while to decide on a design and colors.  Then end results were pretty cool and I told them I may hang them on the wall in the basement as souvenirs.

 After mask making it was time to make our way home.  Our hope was to take a quick (but cheap) Gondola ride across the Grand Canal on a Traghetto.  We stopped for a drink at one of the many bars along the Fondamente (they just give you a glass of wine and you sit on the wall of the canal).  Drew and I successfully asked a woman in Italian if we could pet her dog.  Then we made our way to the Vaporetto stop and rode up the Grand Canal for a bit.  When we made it to the Traghetto stop it was 705 and they stopped running at 700.  Bummer.  We then braved the crush of humanity to get back on the Vaporetto (very busy and crowded on Saturday night).  We stopped at a restaurant along the Fondamente (any street that runs alongside a canal) in our neighborhood and the kids had buttered noodles and Ryan and I had caprese, gnocchi, and lasagna.  We split some chocolate cake for dessert among the table.

 No adventures back at the apartment tonight.  Doing more laundry and tomorrow morning we leave Venice for Pisa and Florence.  Venice was a very cool city.  Not sure how we would have navigated if we had not had the portable Wifi hotspot to be able to use GPS.  The streets all have names but no one uses them and many streets are not on the maps.  It is crazy.  There are only about 50,000 people living in Venice now and they get about 1.5 million tourists per year.  There were lots of Americans there and it seems a very cosmopolitan place.  Ciao Venezia!