![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
simplicity
Jul. 23rd, 2006 01:31 amAs we grow more familiar with the city, our activities simplify and we spend less time with Vicki and Bill telling us how to get around, and more actual getting around. Today the group activities were the Accademia, the Peggy Guggenheim museum, the Frari church, and a gondola ride. I only made the Accademia and the gondola, as I nearly fainted in the sweltering Accademia. This would've been bad, not necessarily because of my failing energy and health risk, but because I would've missed the rest of the lovely work there.
Tintoretto's enormous last supper. When the french restored it a few years back, they discovered 7" on either side that had been turned under. They restorede the edges, but when it was returned to Venice, it no longer fit in the room!
Real solid stuff, not that much of it, but great mid-renaissance Venetian work. I've discovered Tintoretto and Tiziani (tit-zee-ah-nee or tih-shen) and loved both. The Frari has an incredible Tiziani that I'd like to see tomorrow. It's way across town, but I could take a vaporetto. I'd probably go alone though. :(
I lunched with Vicki and others at a little sandwich shop on the "other side" of the canal, near the Accademia. I mention it because no tourists generally go there, so service was brusque but the food was delicious. Canatello lager is pretty good when it's 30C! Just don't let it dehydrate you or you'll be sorry. I went back for a siesta around 13:30 and the roads back were covered in fake-handbag vendors. It was actually hard to navigate, there were so many. It's difficult to take pictures as they hate that. Their engish is also too good, it's a little creepy. They're harmless, but annoying, like a lot of things here I guess.
After a wonderful 3-hour siesta, I woke my roommates for our gondola ride. This was a real treat.
It's funny though, these things have this huge reputation but really, you sit in a boat to see the back canals and talk to your friendly gondolier for an hour. You have to approach it like something fun to do, and get involved. Nothing will happen on the boat if you don't look for it. I saw a lot of couples sitting quietly, staring straight ahead and not really looking around or talking much. Our group is smarter, though, and we quizzed him on everything from the history of his boat (it was his father's) to the average rent on the Canal Grande (2000 euros/month residential, 5000 commercial).
Tide was very high today, as there is a Carnival ship in town. Many of the bridges are very low, and in the winter they sometimes cannot go under in the gondolas. He had to duck quite low as it was. He did not sing, but he spoke italian, english, spanish and french.
Dinner was at a lovely restaurant next to San Zulian. More stunning italian cuisine, including a market-fresh caprese and some great spaghettis and vino rosso della casa.
Also, unexpected gelato pile!
This was 1.75 euros, about $2. And apparantly the really good gelato is in Firenze! I don't know what to make of that... it gets better?
Also, try the A.C.E. gelato, it's carrots (carota), oranges (arancia) and lemon (limone) that all adds up to good.
I was sitting in my room this afternoon thinking I could go for some macaroni and cheese and maybe a tv show... all this richness for the senses can be a little much after a while. The whole city is a postcard, and you can hardly buy bad food if you've got a clue. I do miss cooking though. I want to hit the fruit market tomorrow and get some raw food, my first for some time. I miss cooking and evergreens. I know, I know, poverino has had too much good cucina and vino, but this is a long way from home.
One thing I don't miss is cars. Wander a side street in venice at night, and it is silent. The Adriatic is very still, and the wake laws are very strict around Venice, so the canals and coast are very quiet. The tourist district shuts down after 11, so there's just no noise. Were an annoying industrial fan not right outside my window, it would be totally quiet here.
There is much left to do here, I haven't gone out at night for some long-exposure photography fun, nor have I made it to the Frari, and I'm not sure whether I'll go to Vicenze tomorrow or not. I'd love to see the Teatro Olympico, but it's an all-day trip and I really need a day off.
I've only just spent the 150 euros I started with. Not bad at all for 3 days in Italy's most expensive city. Haven't bought any Murano glass or anything yet though, so that's just food and admissions. The ATM by our hotel ran out of money and won't be stocked until next week, so scrambling for change is common. Italians hate making change, but all their prices are very round, so it's a very different money-spending routine. Very few smaller places and no historical sites take plastic, so ATMs and breaking big bills is the order of the day.
Wireless internet access has so far been impossibly pricy. I'm tempted to buy a SIM card, call home, have someone buy a bunch of Fon credit, and tell me where the APs are. Swisscom Eurospot charges over 20 euros a day for metered internet access at the hotel. I don't think so...
Still living like a king, I can see the dome of San Marcos from my single-bed room, and I'll be enjoying the best of Venice for the next couple days. Salud!
Tintoretto's enormous last supper. When the french restored it a few years back, they discovered 7" on either side that had been turned under. They restorede the edges, but when it was returned to Venice, it no longer fit in the room!
Real solid stuff, not that much of it, but great mid-renaissance Venetian work. I've discovered Tintoretto and Tiziani (tit-zee-ah-nee or tih-shen) and loved both. The Frari has an incredible Tiziani that I'd like to see tomorrow. It's way across town, but I could take a vaporetto. I'd probably go alone though. :(
I lunched with Vicki and others at a little sandwich shop on the "other side" of the canal, near the Accademia. I mention it because no tourists generally go there, so service was brusque but the food was delicious. Canatello lager is pretty good when it's 30C! Just don't let it dehydrate you or you'll be sorry. I went back for a siesta around 13:30 and the roads back were covered in fake-handbag vendors. It was actually hard to navigate, there were so many. It's difficult to take pictures as they hate that. Their engish is also too good, it's a little creepy. They're harmless, but annoying, like a lot of things here I guess.
After a wonderful 3-hour siesta, I woke my roommates for our gondola ride. This was a real treat.
It's funny though, these things have this huge reputation but really, you sit in a boat to see the back canals and talk to your friendly gondolier for an hour. You have to approach it like something fun to do, and get involved. Nothing will happen on the boat if you don't look for it. I saw a lot of couples sitting quietly, staring straight ahead and not really looking around or talking much. Our group is smarter, though, and we quizzed him on everything from the history of his boat (it was his father's) to the average rent on the Canal Grande (2000 euros/month residential, 5000 commercial).
Tide was very high today, as there is a Carnival ship in town. Many of the bridges are very low, and in the winter they sometimes cannot go under in the gondolas. He had to duck quite low as it was. He did not sing, but he spoke italian, english, spanish and french.
Dinner was at a lovely restaurant next to San Zulian. More stunning italian cuisine, including a market-fresh caprese and some great spaghettis and vino rosso della casa.
Also, unexpected gelato pile!
This was 1.75 euros, about $2. And apparantly the really good gelato is in Firenze! I don't know what to make of that... it gets better?
Also, try the A.C.E. gelato, it's carrots (carota), oranges (arancia) and lemon (limone) that all adds up to good.
I was sitting in my room this afternoon thinking I could go for some macaroni and cheese and maybe a tv show... all this richness for the senses can be a little much after a while. The whole city is a postcard, and you can hardly buy bad food if you've got a clue. I do miss cooking though. I want to hit the fruit market tomorrow and get some raw food, my first for some time. I miss cooking and evergreens. I know, I know, poverino has had too much good cucina and vino, but this is a long way from home.
One thing I don't miss is cars. Wander a side street in venice at night, and it is silent. The Adriatic is very still, and the wake laws are very strict around Venice, so the canals and coast are very quiet. The tourist district shuts down after 11, so there's just no noise. Were an annoying industrial fan not right outside my window, it would be totally quiet here.
There is much left to do here, I haven't gone out at night for some long-exposure photography fun, nor have I made it to the Frari, and I'm not sure whether I'll go to Vicenze tomorrow or not. I'd love to see the Teatro Olympico, but it's an all-day trip and I really need a day off.
I've only just spent the 150 euros I started with. Not bad at all for 3 days in Italy's most expensive city. Haven't bought any Murano glass or anything yet though, so that's just food and admissions. The ATM by our hotel ran out of money and won't be stocked until next week, so scrambling for change is common. Italians hate making change, but all their prices are very round, so it's a very different money-spending routine. Very few smaller places and no historical sites take plastic, so ATMs and breaking big bills is the order of the day.
Wireless internet access has so far been impossibly pricy. I'm tempted to buy a SIM card, call home, have someone buy a bunch of Fon credit, and tell me where the APs are. Swisscom Eurospot charges over 20 euros a day for metered internet access at the hotel. I don't think so...
Still living like a king, I can see the dome of San Marcos from my single-bed room, and I'll be enjoying the best of Venice for the next couple days. Salud!
