Our Last Day in Venice
Well, our time in Venice is quickly coming to an end. So quickly in fact that I got home four weeks ago and am just now writing about it. So don’t be fooled if you think you have seen me around but I am still writing from Venice.
Anyway, after freezing my nu-nu off to see the burning of the bull, I head back to our fine digs. Some grappa to begin the re-warming process, some more grappa to make sure the process doesn’t stop and finally some grappa to sleep on.
I awake on Ash Wednesday in Venice with no costumes, no loud music, no Italians walking around with bottles of wine, and no burning bull.
Chapel in San Marco
The fearsome five have planned a trip to San Marco for Ash Wednesday Mass followed by a pilgrimage to the Jesuit Church in Venice. An empty Vaporetto ride takes us to an empty San Marco square and we walk right into the Church. The last three days the lines to get in have extended several hundred yards.
Our first challenge is to find where in this huge beautiful place they might be celebrating Mass. Finally, we ask someone with an answer. We are pointed to a small chapel off the side. Use your imagination, huge Church, small chapel, 15 people. What is wrong with this picture? It is Ash Wednesday! It becomes obvious as a very old priest toddles to the front and in a slow monotone reads to us. A sprinkle of ash on the head, no glaring ash crosses on the forehead.
Sadly, no photos are allowed inside the Church. Ooops, my finger slipped.
We depart the Church and meet in the square to plan our strategy. Brad, Joyceann and Gretchen decide their pilgrimage will be on a Vaporetto. John and Bill decide theirs will be afoot.
As always in Venice we head this way and that in what we think is the general direction. So off we trudge. Miracle of miracles, we pop out near the Ospedale (hospital) and canal near the Church.
Finally arriving, we enter. The first thing I notice is my breath. It is like a refrigerator inside. I likely will make a contribution to their heating fund. Imagine a congregation with each breath reflected as the warm air escapes their nose. Somehow it does not promote long and prayerful rejoicing.
Chiesa di Gesuiti
Chiesa di Gesuiti
Chiesa di Gesuiti
John and I head outside to hang and wait on the others. After a bit, with no others arriving, we begin the march home.
Campo dei Gesuiti
Through Campo dei Gesuiti, a detour to the local wine merchant …,
Local Wine Merchant
some window shopping …,
Window Shopping
more canals…,
and finally we arrive back for a grand dinner to end our visit.
Yes, once again, dinner with Leeenda at Ostaria 1518.
Finally, a self portrait of John and I…
John and Bill
Carnevale Comes to an End
Everyone's a Photog
As evening settles on Fat Tuesday, Carnevale drifts toward its end. Costumes galore on this last day and tons of people! The Venetian bull has been towed into place for its midnight burning to mark the end of Carnevale and the beginning of Lent.
Da Bull is Prepared
Fat Tuesday Crowds
Happy Faces
Once again we wander San Marco and take in the sights. Our evening starts with drinks and sharing our days adventures followed by a last dinner at Ostaria 1815. Linda (Leeenda) is once again a gracious host assisted by Kristine.
And Your Point?
After dinner we walk to Salute and the long cold, no very cold, wait for the stupid bull to burn. I head to the point, home of the famous naked frog man, with a bunch of young Italians each with the requisite bottle of vino. I think the vino probably worked better then long johns. Brad hangs back hiding behind a post with his tripod set and ready to fire away.
So we wait, midnight. And we wait, 12:30. And we wait, 1:00. What the hell are we waiting for? John bails out and heads back. Finally, about 1:15 everyone stands up (gratefully no one tumbles into the canal) and the murmuring begins. In a language everyone understands, some English, some Italian, some head nodding, and lots of hand gestures, the guy next to me explains, we are waiting a bunch of gondolas and boats to arrive from the Rialto Bridge. Whoopee!
Finally, they arrive. Although you really can’t see them everyone is sure they are there. They move into the lagoon and surround the now very cold bull. With the flick of a match, he burns up, burns out, and everyone heads home. Suddenly I am standing alone on the point and realize it is over. Well, another experience to chalk up but not necessary to do again.
San Marco at Night
View from Salute
Burn Baby, Burn!
Oh, a warm bed and LARGE shot of Grappa never felt so good.
Final Dose of Carnevale Costumes
After a brief cigarette break, hey you gotta do what you gotta do, I head back to the guerrilla warfare of the campo amongst the minions of cell phone photographers. Elbows out, knees braced. This is what that 20 years of playing hockey was preparing me for.
This simply prepares me for leading John through the crush of Italians dancing (i.e. jumping) in front of the rock band stage.
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Not Only A Land of Costumes
As the tour books say, you haven’t seen Venice until you have gotten lost in Venice. And getting lost is a simple task. Once you have taken your second turn down narrow pathways, you map is no longer helpful. So you begin to zig and zag in the general direction you think you want to go. You will know when to stop when you arrive at a big water, the Grand Canal, Guidecca, or the lagoon.
However, getting lost allows you the time to explore and see what Venice really looks like. During most of our time the sky was a bright blue providing great reflections along the canals. But as you might expect, without clouds to hold in the heat, it was cold, cold, cold!
A few rules to remember:
3. Harry’s Bar, the Hemmingway hangout, is outrageously expensive.
4. Don’t breath too deeply because occasionally you will get a canal whiff that you wish you hadn’t.
But all in all it is a wonderful place to experience, and to experience you must get lost.
More of Carnevale
I continue to be amazed by the costumes. They are bright, colorful, and folks generally know how and where to pose to show them off. The old timers take up places where the sun or other light brightens their faces and where scores of people cannot get behind them so there is a decent background.
Days three and four were sunny once again. In Campo San Marco there is a huge stage set up that hosts costume parades, music and many other modes of entertainment. Some clearly better than others.
The five of us are getting along quite nicely. One never knows when five folks with really one connection in common, Brad, come together for the first time. Add to that in a foreign country with different foods, and challenges to understand how to run the espresso machine and the laundry washer and dryer.
Add to that cell phones that sometimes work and sometimes don’t and skype that sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t. Pam and I had made the deal that email was sufficient so we sort of missed this whole challenge. Oh yes, wifi in the living room and wifi in the upper kitchen, both are different and Brad and my Mac’s only pick up the upper kitchen signal. Until three days in, mine got the living room version for a day.
Now for the costumes:
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Evening Settles In…
We are enconsed back at our pad as the sun sets and evening settles in. Good company and plans for dinner at Ostaria 1815. The view from our apartment are outstanding.
Canal Sunset
Venetian Evening View
We have a lively dinner with our host at the Ostaria, Linda (pronounced Leenda). She treats us to some polenta and shrimps to start, then brings us dolci and grappa to end the meal. Lots of laughs, teasing and bothering our neighboring tables. Actually they enjoyed it too.
Back to camp for a good nights snooze and a check up on Gretchen’s eagles. No eggs yet in Iowa.
In the morning we clamber out of bed and get ready for our days adventure – a trip to Burano. However the award for most clamber goes to Brad. As everyone quietly respects the others rest, Brad heads done the stairs – on his butt. Boom, boom, whack, whack, UMMPH! No permanent damage however.
Home Sweet Home - Our Humble Apartment from the Vaparetto
Now that we are all awake, we prepare to catch the vaporetto, the first of three. Our first stop, Piazale Roma. Of course we are all familiar with this one having wandered it to find our vaparetto tickets yesterday. Vaporetto two takes us to Murano. We get off as if we know what we are doing but scamper back on at the last minute after figuring out this is not where we want to be. After catching our third vaporetto we head across the lagune to Burano.
We were anticipating a good place to make pics but this was far above an beyond our expectations.
Burano Photographer
Burano Photographer (aka Brad)
Photographers in Burano, notice any resemblance?
After several hours of wandering the streets, we catch the vaporetto back.
Day #3 in Venice
Our Fearless Leader
Another day dawns and Brad and I hit the bricks before sunrise to see what comes up.
Well, the sun of course!
Note that at 6:30 AM it is damn cold out there. At least the wind wasn’t blowing. It adds another dimension to picture taking, can you hold the camera steady through the shivers?
But in the end is was a great sunrise and well worth it.
Venice Guidecca Sunrise
After the sunrise, the fearless five, begin the search for vaporetto tickets. Four of us purchased the tickets online to save 3,50 Euros and understood both from the internet site and the airport ticket office that we could pick them up at any vaporetto ticket machine.
Our first clue that there was a problem was that our purchase codes included letters and the keypad on the machines were only numbers. After much frustration attempting to retrieve our tickets from the machina, we went to a newsstand and asked. “No, no, you must go to Piazale Roma to purchase.” So we each spend 6 Euros to ride to Piazale Roma, so much for saving 3,50.
After receiving directions to three different offices we finally landed at the right place. Word to the wise, buy your ticket in Venice at the ticket booth. Finally we start our day, two plus hours later and 6 Euros lighter.
John and Joyceann head off to find the Ghetto. Bill, Gretchen and Brad head off to find a couple shops that Bill had visited the day before. Well, we spent about 2 and a half hours getting lost before we gave up and stopped for lunch. What are the odds, another couple in the restaurant was from Seattle.
Masked Seattleites
After lunch we put Gretchen on the Vaporetto back to the apartment while Brad and I trudge on. After a couple hours we had given up on finding the shops and guess what? We ran into them. I kept telling Brad I could smell them but I think he lost confidence.
For the first time since arriving, I ran into a pair in costume that I had previously photographed in St. Marks square. They were some of my favorites so we spent some more time making their pictures. I will post them with today’s images.
After we arrived home, we learned that Joyceann and John had a similar experience. Circular and retracing steps before finding their destination which neither were particularly impressed with. At least Brad and I didn’t do any retracing.
Having arrived back at the pad and enjoying a glass (or two) of wine we were treated to a great sunset and the departure of a ship that dwarfed our apartment building.
View from my room
