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.

You Can't Not Think "I'm in a Postcard Right Now"

The Cinque Terre.  Thank you to everyone who, from the first moment I thought about taking this trip, told me I had to go to the Cinque Terre.  It is one of the most uniquely beautiful places I've ever seen.  Worn yet colorful buildings, clothes hanging from wooden-shuttered windows, tiny streets, fishing boats aligned in the water, and waves crashing at the break-point.  I spent my first afternoon "tanning" on the rocks (there really is no such thing as getting tan for me) and then watched the sunset with a German couple I met over a pre-dinner drink.

There was a free concert that night, which was a nice surprise.  The band played what I assume are popular Italian songs from the past 50 years, given the little bit I could understand from the band manager's descriptions and the fact that people of all ages were singing along.  My favorite song was about Coca Cola, since I understood at least that much.  Who knows why that's a crowd favorite, but they played it twice!

From Happy to Panicked to Joyous

You can't be in Italy without drinking wine, and if at all possible, in my mind, everyone should get out of the city and visit a vineyard,.  I took a day trip for a wine tasting, a visit to a wine cellar, and some free time to explore a little town called Greve in Chianti.  While the rest of the group headed to cafes, I tried to get lost on the outskirts of town.  Deciding that walking uphill was the way to go - better views - I ended up not only passing the town's stream and cemetery, but past a great vineyard where I could get up and close to the vines and grapes.  Awesome!  I could have hung out there for hours, just taking photos in all directions, but my hour was just about up.  I grabbed some gelato on my way back to the bus and was very happy to find it was by far the best in Italy yet!

The first major crisis of the trip hit that night, when I couldn't find my camera when I got back to the hostel.  Asking people around the computers, at the desk, and a few panicked phone calls to the tour company still brought me no luck.  Let's just say that I didn't sleep too well that night, but was very fortunate to have had a kind soul turn it in to the front desk, so when I asked again in the morning it was there.  Phew!

Leather, the David and One Amazing Night

Florence is the a city well known for its leather and I had trouble finding real stores selling authentic goods. However anywhere you look you see street vendors selling anything and everything they can get tourists to buy. Almost from the moment I walked out of my hostel (which was by far the nicest of all the hostels I've stayed in on this trip) I was surrounded. At least they respect the piazza around the Duomo - for the most part!

The Duomo is beautiful with its white and green stonework. I decided to climb to the top of the cupola and then on to the campanile. They said it was 463 stairs to the top, but I counted closer to 600. Either way I was sweating as I climbed but quite enjoyed the twisty staircases and peeks out tiny windows on the way up. And the view from the top was pretty stunning too! Such a great look at the city! Being at the top of the dome - on the inside- also helped me to appreciate and respect the artists who painted frescos on curved ceilings so that they look accurate to people on the ground. Wow.

A foot on a fresco up close!

My second day was reserved for the Academica, the Ponte Vecchio, and the Uffizi. Michelangelo's David is everything everyone says it is - powerful, thoughtful, beautiful, and huge! He definitely was worth seeing, but the rest of the museum was just ok. Am I getting to be an art museum snob?!

The Ponte Vecchio was something new with jewelry stores on both sides of the bridge. The shopping was out of my league but pretty to look at none the less! After some lunch and gelato I headed into the Uffizi with Rick Steves again as my personal guide. He walked me through the museum, from painting after painting of Madonna and Child to those of Venus. Botticelli's talent is evident in the way he created scenes and movement in the Birth of Venus and Spring.

Since art is not as exciting to read about I'll move on and tell you about the unexpected events that made this night my favorite of the trip so far. I got some food and a half bottle of wine and headed to Pizzale Michelangelo to watch the sunset over Florence. If you ever are in Florence, you must do this! It was so much fun watching the city change colors as the sun lowered and watching the sun itself slip behind the far off mountain. I walked back and came upon a guitar-playing street performer who did a decent version of U2 on the Ponte Vecchio, but continued on my merry way in search of gelato.

I never found it because two blocks later I came across another performer... a classical pianist playing on a real (but amplified) piano in the street. He was amazing, brilliantly playing one masterpiece by Mozart, Beethoven, and Chopin right after one another. For almost 45 min I stood in the street avoiding cars and watching from 10 feet away as this man played, his 3 year old son amused himself or talked to his father mid-song, and his wife and infant sell his CDs. At close to 11pm he called it a night and I was disappointed to have to head home. What a way to spend a night in Italy!