For my last weekend in Europe, I took a trip to Venice by myself to explore and see sights. Venice truly is unlike any other city in the World. It was built on a series of marshy islands, with the marble building foundations raised on wooden pillars above the waterline. At the time, the depth of the canal was about 16 ft shallower than it is today,so these building were well above the water level. However, each year the average water level rises, compounding the problem of the sinking pillars.
This same system of canals also makes Venice extremely difficult to navigate, even for Europe. In Rome, if the building you want to visit is across the street, you cross the street. In Venice, if the building is across the canal, you find the nearest bridge (not always easy), and then have to return to the original spot. Some streets dead-end in canals, and no stretch of road runs paralell to the canals, even the Grand Canal, for any useful period of time. Sometimes a street will even dead-end in the side of a building that projects farther into the canal than its neighbors.
This meant that Venice was probably the best city to have visited without a set agenda. Sure, I saw the major sites; the Doge's Palace, St. Mark's, The Accademia, Ponte Rialto, but I didn't have to be anywhere at a certain time. I got plenty of time to sketch (paint) and one nice German man asked me if I was "painting to sell"! I was flattered, but told him no, only for school. Venice was probably one of my favorite places to paint so far because everything casts interesting reflections in the canals, even if the buildings themselves are fairly mundane.
I also enjoyed looking at the beautiful Carnival masks (played up due to tourism, yes, but still sutnning). I would love to return to Venice someday during the Carnevale.
The
Gondole, also touristy, were decorated in velvets and gilts, and all dressed up for a romantic evening. They appear more sinister than I had first imagined, more like funeral boats or daggers slicing through the water than nostalgic, romantic modes of transportation. They are long and sleek and black, and reminded me of some kind of fantastic assassins guild. The fin on the prow, called a
dolfin in Venetian looked more like a weapon than a symbolic representation of the islands and landmarks of Venice. I wanted to ride in a gondola, but it was 80 euro for a 40 minute ride. I took the
Vaparetto, the water bus, instead.
There it is! My trip to Venice in a nutshell. With only four more days in Rome, everyone is buckling down on studio and piazza projects. I can't believe this trip is winding down so fast!
Ciao! a domani,
Laura
P.S. if I can't come home with a Roman cat, can I come home with a Vespa?
