Did we say just how much we like Venice? And we are a bit touristed out. So we have been taking it easy, reading, resting, planning the next bits of the trip. As a result, we have booked another two weeks here. Wednesday afternoon, with the help of our new "host" we will move into another Venice apartment.
August 4, a Monday.
Diversion: Vaporetti
The public transportation system in Venice is basically made up of water buses, called vaperetti (singular, vaporetto). Route 1 goes along the Grand Canal with a lot of stops; No. 2 makes fewer stops along the Grand Canal, so it’s a bit faster, and it will take you beyond, to Guidecca and the outside perimeter. A stop looks like this:
The system is:
Expensive. 7 euros, or about $10, for a 40-minute ticket. If you’re here more than 2 days, you will probably do well with the 7-day ticket for 50 euros. We will spend close to $600 on public transportation for the month were are here.
Crowded, modelled upon the biblical ark. But a trip on the Grand Canal is always a privilege, nonetheless.
Diversion: The Academia Bridge: Venice has 435 bridges, but only 4 cross the Grand Canal. The Academia Bridge was designed by Eugenio Miozzi and opened in 1933. It was expected to be a temporary bridge, but it was kept by popular demand.
It is described as a wooden bridge and it looks like one. We noticed, however, that the wood it rotting away in places and, from below, it looks like the wooden parts are not structurally required:
The Naval Historical Museum is vast, on 5 floors, with no elevator. Leslie mostly sat it out.
This museum is run by the Navy of Italy, so it includes Venetian, Hapsburg, and Neapolitan artifacts.
Model of the Doge’s last barge:
One room had a collection of about 100 small, naive paintings, from the 17th century, that were adorning a church in Naples. The donors had all survived perilous mishaps at sea:
The highest floor had a “Swedish Room.” Apparently, the Swedes were big customers of the Venice shipyards and Venetian officers served in the Swedish Navy.
There was also an artistically displayed shell collection:
Lunch take out. Wine bought at the Punto Simply market, excellent. A valdimezzo valpolicella ripasso superiore by Satori 2012. About 9 euros. We like it a lot, so we make this note and look it up on the net. The Sartori site says its a blend: 55% Corvina, 25% Corvinone, 15% Rondinella, and 5% Croatina.
A note on directions: Addresses in Venice are probably only good for postmen and, maybe, computer mapping. Venice is divided into six districts. The addresses in each district are simply numbered sequentially. We are at 45 Santa Croce, calle della Madonna. Thus, to give directions, you find a landmark and direct from there. When we needed a mailing tube, a very nice salesperson made us directions, starting at the Hard Rock Cafe, over the bridge, right at the puma store, etc. We found it with little trouble. Our new landlord is going to help us move. We finally were able to locate a pastry store (excellent, we will miss the bread) where we can meet.
Tues, August 5th.
We visited three churches north and east of the Rialto Bridge.
The first, Santa Maria dei Miracoli, was the most interesting. In the 15th century, a painting of the madonna, owned by a successful merchant, was the source of many miracles. The Council ordered the merchant to build a suitable church to house the miraculous work. The result is a small, uncluttered building (1480s) using different marbles and other materials to great advantage. It is always described as a “jewel box.”
Next, Giovanni e Paolo, which is attached to the Civic Hospital. The Hospital is on the left:
Inside, the church is very large. It uses many gothic elements, but they are not combined and exploited to produce the soaring awe of its French predecessors:
The Italians never “got” gothic. Vasari, in fact, was the author of the term “gothic” to disparage it as barbarian. The only cathedral overtly seeking a gothic presentation is in Milan, and it is impaired by excessive and unsuitable ornamentation:
Here is a chapel at Santa Maria Formosa. The gothic format is overwhelmed (but, admittedly, not at all a bad result):
Santa Maria Formosa, our last church today, is a smaller structure on a large piazza. Our camera battery was fully depleted. So this is Caneletto’s take, which is pretty close to what you see today:
Dinner at da Silvio. Leslie had fegato veneziano (liver and onions with polenta); Bruce had veal scalopine pizzaiola. The mosquitos ate both of us.
Wed., August 6. Moving day.
It took a while to pack up and extract our effects. For lunch, we took the vaporetto to the Rialto Mercato stop. The market is quite large and unexciting. We had lunch at a random tratorria. Leslie had gnocchi and Bryce had a large salad. On the way back, Leslie was ill, but she recovered before our trek across the canal to our new place in the San Marco district.
We started to look for lodging quite late. that left us with a small online selection of apartments meeting our need for a central location, wifi, and few stairs. We were greeted with rodent pellets just outside the door. We've seen enough of that in Florida and D.C. not to get freaked.
What we have is expensive, large, old, smelly and quirky. The building is perhaps 250 years old. The host thinks 15th century. Hard to tell. The owner is a remarried widow and the couple spends their time in Geneva with trips to Africa. She probably lived here 50 years. As you would expect, nothing is bland and much is highly personal.
We have sequestered several taxicab-type paper odor trees. The A/C works well. The water temp is variable, but there is adequate hot water. The washer worked. And the neighborhood has compensations. More next post.
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