Venetian Goodbye

Venice is a lot like living in a painting.  Beauty lurks with each turn of the head and the colors and reflections seem ephemeral at times.  You blink and the picture changes.  The size of Venice ceases to exceed its usefulness.  No corner, road, bridge, or shop seems wasted or useless;  each thing plays a part in defining her character.  The peeling paint reflects the past's ages and glories, with the new layers an homage to the upkeep of a starstung legacy.  While people may come and go, none forget Venice.  Hemingway hunted, Napoleon conquered, Monet painted, Leonardo invented, and millions more have gasped and gawked in the shadows of this most storied village.  We love this place.

The morning began with a feast of nutella and bread.  Since Carnivale is nearing its conclusion tomorrow, the crowds seem to be at a peak.  We opted to spend a quiet morning in Murano.  Murano is a glass making island about a 10 minute boat ride from Venice.  In the late 13th century, all of the glassblowers in Venice were exiled to Murano due to a fear of fires.  Since glassblowers need extremely hot furnaces, an d Venice had been ravaged by fires, this served logic well.

Saw this electronics store on the way to the harbor to board a boat for Murano, seems like pretty old stuff,

 

very very old.

 

We really like walking in Venice, but it is important to have a good map.  There are many walkways that end abruptly like this, and surprisingly few bridges.

 A petrol station, really long hoses for the boats

 This dog took the boat to Murano with us, and was nipping at everyone's toes.  I think he was herding us.

 Murano looks alot like Venice except a slower pace and is slightly more industrial looking

We stopped in a few glass shops, and tried to find a working furnace to see some artisans at work.

 We happened upon this alien looking glass urchin in front of the old clock tower.

 This was the main waterway bisecting Murano

 A very colorful glass chandelier.  I tried to spark up some conversations about the glass business since is is the family business, but all I got was Italian shrugs.

 I particularly like this type of glass design which I believe originated here on Murano 

 Main St. Murano 

 I really like this dog's shadow 

 Our search for some glass artisans at work was not going well.

 We passed empty courtyards at peaked into quiet buildings.

 We finally happened upon this two man team

 They were drinking beers and making glass.  It was about 11am.

 Furnace and some colors 

 The hot furnace where the artisans heat up the glass to mold it

 They heat it up and than use tools to shape the glass accordingly 

 Very very hot

 One of the guys heated up this ball of glass at left,

 and dropped it onto the main piece,

 cut

 and dry.

We enjoyed watching the glass blowers at work, but needed to head back to Venice to see how Carnivale was coming along.  We hopped on a random boat with expired Vaporetto cards, and luckily did not get fined or yelled at.  Also, the boat delivered us right to our desires.

 

 It always feels grand pulling into San Marco.

 Carnivale seemed to be going smoothly, very busy with tons of great costumes.

 The costumed need to eat as well.

 The crowds seemed somehow more cramping today.

 The dogs had given up.

 These two were peacefully dancing, until

 Some strange music started playing and this person jumped out from behind a curtain and juggled some things with moderate skill.

 It was stranger than impressive, but we stuck around in hopes for more.

 She yelled at some poor man that walked through her circle, and for a little while we wanted more...

 All they seemed to do was juggle, so we bounced.

 Crowded is an understatement.  At one point I tried to walk and my legs ceased to grip land.  I was wedged between two people, floating inches above the ground.

 I have never seen so many photographers in my life.

 Love the colors 

 We were constantly wondering what type of person was behind the mask, and I think that is kind of the original point of Carnivale.  You could party and hide your identity so that transgressions would perhaps be less real.

 In the very impressive and old Basilica di San Marco, over 1000 years in the same site.

 

 Since photography was prohibited I just snuck these in.  Kristin would cough wile I pulled the shutter trigger casually tilting the camera around my neck.

 The ceiling is beautiful.

 Just really impressive  and epic, hard to translate the size of this place

 Ghostly 

 This was in the entry 

 The exterior of Basilica di San Marco

 Unfortunately, part of the building was under construction.  It seems like part of these historic buildings is always under some kind of construction, as it is rarer to find one without scaffolding.

 SO, I tried to cover the construction area with some revelers 

 The light posts all have a very romantic rosy color 

 The crowds were chaotic, but in a place like this it is tolerable.

 I love these pointy masks 

 I turned around and this fella was right in my face.

 I love the harbor in front of San Marco

 Through the posts 

 I could not tell if this was a costume or not.  Would it be disappointing to dress up and receive little interest from photographers?  

 If there is a next time, then I want to check out this building over there, looks so peaceful

 We could not even go to any museums because the lines were ridiculously long.

 Costumes

 We decided to eat really cheap today, and only spent 20 euros on meals all day, eating sandwiches and...

 Ice Cream

 This freakish crew demanded food.

 We threw it in the sea.

 This costume was a real head turner 

 We wanted to stick around for sunset, but had to follow the freakish.

 Really scared the crap out of this kid, so what does he do?

 Parry

 Strange scene

 Kristin pointed out that this paint peeled in the perfect shape of an elephant.

 This lady cussed us out for not tipping her, made us glad that we did not tip her.

 You should never get used to this sight,  but after a few days, you do.

 We happened upon this out of the way piazza just filled with the costumed

 Of all colors

 

 Every gesture

 Hard to take a bad picture with these subjects 

 What do they talk about?

 I love this picture.

 Probably my favorite costume as well

 Rose lady

 Like Mardi Gras except no beads and more cameras

 Venice is a fun city to get lost in.  It is small enough that you can always find your way home.

 We walked back to Piazza San Marco.

 It was a little quieter.  We reasoned that it was probably due to a depletion of the cruise crowd 

 Marionettes

 Human Traffic jam 

 we decided to walk to the ghetto.

 Finding several dead ends,

 And waterways were we hoped for paths.

 Venice houses the ORIGINAL ghetto, named such for the Jewish minorities that lived there.  Ghetto means slag in venetian.  Slag is a by-product of smelting ore.

 Today, it looks similar to the rest of Venice.  Jewish Venetians were forced to live in the ghetto, and were even locked in at night.  They were also only permitted to take certain types of work, such as doctors, money lenders, and merchants.  The best doctors in Venice were Jews living in this ghetto because they understood many writings on anatomy and cures.  

 When Napoleon conquered Venice, he removed the gates.  

Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice" even lived within these gates.

 

  We ate at a really tasty vegetarian restaurant for dinner.  This is Gorgonzola and pistachio Tagliatelle.

 

  Kristin's Ricotta and Tomato Tagliatelle

Tomorrow, we head for Rome.