City of Water and Glass

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Venice – the city built on the water, the city of canals, the city of masks. All of these could describe Verona, but none of them truly capture the beauty, the confusing, twisting streets and waterways, or the barrage of colors and faces , both real and fake, that surround you. It rained on our day of travel from Verona to Venice, so once we reached the hotel – which paled in comparison to our one in Verona – we wandered around the suburb of Venice in which we were staying. There was not much there – if traveling to Venice, pay the extra money to stay in Venice or as close as you can to it. On Thursday, we headed into Venice and started off with Murano, the island on which Murano Glass is made. All of the items that can be made from glass are astounding – plates, clocks, chess sets, chandeliers…the list could go on forever. The boat ride to the island and back from it was long, but very scenic. In Venice, the buses are waterbuses, which are expensive – 6.50 for a single ticket – but we bought 3-day passes which saved us a considerable amount. After the Murano Island, we rode to St. Mark’s square and walked from there to the Rialto Bridge. The shops along the way were filled with masks of every color, shape, and size. We took a side way that was less crowded and watched the gondolas pass under the little bridges. The Rialto – which is near the market, a center of trade, and was the only bridge that spanned the Grande Canal until the late 1800s – was crowded. We then backtracked to St. Mark’s and wandered around the little shops and watched the artists work. Venice seems to be one of those cities that you could paint or draw forever, the ever-shifting weather, all the different colors of light on the water, and the water, of course, surrounds everything.
It wasn’t until our second day in Venice that we went into St. Mark’s. Deb, Krista, and I headed in before things opened up and took one of the waterbuses down the Grand Canal. We watched the “poor man’s taxies” shuttling people from one side of the canal to the other where there were no bridges. We reached St. Mark’s just after it opened and were able to walk right in. The inside was, of course, beautiful. Everything was covered with what looked like mosaics in varying shades of gold. I only recognized a handful of the scenes depicted, but all of them were impressive. We then wandered around the Rialto area, walked through the market where they were selling a large variety of seafood, as well as fresh fruits and vegetables. We then ran into Jane and walked out towards the hospital for lunch. On the way, we stopped in a costume shop where they sell and rent costumes for Carnival. The cashier told us it was about 200-400 euros to rent a costume for 24 hours and a minimum of 1,200 euros to buy one. So, if you are planning on going to Carnival, bring your own costume! We also say a shop were they were making and painting masks – one of the masks was as big as my small kitchen table. After lunch, we found some gelato and then took a gondola ride. Our gondolier didn’t sing – unfortunately – but he took us along some small canals and past Marco Polo’s house. We spent the rest of the afternoon around St. Mark’s square and then took a very, very crowded waterbus back to the bus station to catch our bus back to our hotel. While crowded, Venice was interesting because it was so different, and it will certainly require a trip back.

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Photos

St. John the Baptist Church
Where Vivaldi was baptised