Old Art, New Art, and Glass

My two full days in Venice were spent getting lost, visiting art museums, and looking at tons of glass.

The Academia houses Venice's "old" art - mostly Venician artists from the Renaissance.  Even after spending a few hours in the museum, I still wouldn't be able to distinguish between a Bellini, Titian, Tintorello or Veronese.  I'm glad I never took Art History, because I might have failed.  However I did enjoy my time there, especially since there were cards in almost every room that gave me some insight into what I was looking at. 

After the Academia, I headed to the Peggy Guggenheim Museum of "new" art.  Modern art may be easier to distinguish the artist, but understanding the subject matter is beyond me. 

I invested a few Euro in the audioguide so that I could have some idea as to what the Jackson Pollack's were about and what Dali was trying to say with his crazy dream-like paintings.  Peggy Guggenheim had a few Calders (are you sick of reading about my obsession for him yet?), one of which was made out of glass.  I really wanted to take it home with me!


After a lot of art, I headed to Friari Church to specifically see a beautiful Titian and a Donatello wood sculpture (to complete my mission to see a masterpiece by each of the Ninja Turtles).  I ended up taking a half nap in the church becasue I was tired, it was cool, quiet, and safe - just what I needed!  My evening was spent in St. Mark's Square where the cafe's had 3-5 piece orchestras competing for the attention of tourists.  It was quite entertaining for about 20 minutes, but since I wasn't willing to sit at a cafe and order a glass of wine for ten euros, I moved on to a cheaper dinner and a relaxing night in.

My second full day in Venice was saved for a cruise down the Grand Canal on a vaporetto and the island of Murano, where they make Venician glass.  I headed to the Glass Museum first since a rainstorm was quickly rolling in, and it worked out perfectly that about five minutes after I got inside it started pouring, and it stopped raining about two minutes before I was ready to head back out.  The highlights were beautiful chandaliers, amazing designs molded into glasses and pitchers, and a room that served to give museum visitors information as to how they make the glass and create the colors.

I did a bit of shopping before heading back to a glass factory where they were giving free demostrations, and I saw these two men making a blue fish.  If only I could have gotten closer and helped...

Venice was a uniquely interesting city and I'm glad I was able to see it.

The Smallest Hotel Room Ever

Venice is a city unlike any I've ever experienced before.  First, there isn't a single car.  Second, roads can be less than three feet wide and still considered roads.  Third, well, as you all know, it's a bunch of islands connected by bridges.  Having seen pictures and video about Venice don't make the first experience with the city and less shocking or awesome.

After navigating the winding roads that get any and every visitor lost, I found my hotel and checked into the smallest hotel room I've ever seen or thought could exist.  I was very lucky to have a few nights of luxurious accomodations, even if it was small (thanks Mom and Dad!).  Not really wanting to spend my afternoon in the hotel, I headed back into the city and found St. Mark's Square.  The basilica was so cool with it's "little bit of everything" style of architecture on the outside and huge gold mosaics on the inside.  The highlight of the Doge's Palace next door was the prison, which obviously was very old and not used anymore, and the walk over the Bridge of Sighs.

My parting thought to share with you about my first day in Venice is this: why on earth would anyone thing it was not only a good idea but exciting to put bird seed or bread on your body and try to get pigeons, the rats of the sky, to land on you?  I don't understand it, but there were too many tourists doing it to have been a fluke.  Needless to say I did not partake in that activity.

My Lost Day

I lost a day somehow, reserving a place to stay in the Cinque Terre and then another in Venice a few days later.  However in between I managed to forget that August 31st existed.  So after some planning in earlier cities I decided to head to Lucca, a walled city in Tuscany which was for the most part on my way to Venice.

It was easy enough to get to, but finding my hostel for the night was a bit of an adventure since there are only a few entrances into a walled city!  I also came to find out that the tourist information office was closed, so I literally wandered around without direction, map, or a plan for a while until I found things that were interesting looking (and then finally found an open info office).

Since Puccini was from Lucca I decided it was a great place to listen to some opera, which the city offers every night of the year.  It was a bit expensive, but the singers and pianist were very talented, and I enjoyed being sophisticated while listening to arias by Puccini and Mozart.  I had a very early train to Venice the next morning, my lost day in Lucca had an early night.

Two Perfect Days: Hiking and Lounging

The thing to do in the Cinque Terre is to hike between the five towns.  There is a narrow, well traveled, and well protected trail that runs up and down the mountains on the coast.  It was an amazing way to spend a day, because I met another girl on the first leg of the trip and because it was so beautiful.  While there were quite a lot of stairs up and down, the views of the coastline and the sea made it all worthwhile.

And this is a warning how?

The trail takes you into each town, and I have to say, the town I chose to stay in, Vernazza, was definitely the coolest!  After an ardous day's hike, Nancy and I were sweaty and tired, so we just jumped into the ocean for a quick swim in my town -- a very enjoyable way to cool down.  Dinner and an amazing sunset where the sun and clouds were working in harmony to create perfect rays shining out into the sky.  (Please note the picture since it can show you better than I can describe!)

My overly active day was followed by one of pure laziness.  I had initially planned on doing another hike in the region, but the idea of doing nothing but sitting on a rock and reading or sleeping, and going swimming was more appealing.  So that's exactly what I did, and it was a fabulous day.  A Dan Brown novel kept me entertained and the sun kept me warm.  I was lucky enough to experience one more beautiful sunset that night as I ate pasta and bruchetta. The Cinque Terre definitely lived up to my expectations and gave my brain a few days to relax without having museums and history to absorb.