Best View in Venice (Day 15)

This afternoon we caught a vaporetto over to San Giorgio Maggiore to visit the church. It was originally built in 790 but collapsed in an earthquake in 1223. The version that stands there today dates from approximately 1500. It was designed by Andrea Palladio who believed there was a correlation between maths and music. Hugh Honour, author of ‘The Companion Guide to Venice’ states that there is a harmony to Palladio’s churches. I’d be inclined to agree. It’s not ornate or decorative as you might expect, in fact it’s quite bare by Venice standards, but it’s calm, peaceful and creates an atmosphere that could not wrongly be described as harmonious.

There is a great floor in front of the main alter (probably not so harmonious) that seems strangely modern for its time. I suppose retro is cool at the moment, but even still.

There is also a carving of the Madonna and child by Girolamo Campagna that seems to have a contemporary twist. The crowns on the figures heads seem a bit out of place to me, as if they are a later addition. Maybe the priest decided to play a joke, only in today’s language the crowns would have been substituted for traffic cones.

So back to the point. We had gone there to see Anish Kapoor’s ‘Ascension’. I was keen to see it as I’d heard it was posing structural problems for the church, due to operating via a vacuum, and was possibly going to be switched off. It also hadn’t worked on its opening night so was behaving like a real diva of an artwork. I was intrigued.

It was definitely a spectacle and well worth a visit but you do have to suspend belief slightly and blank out the four massive columns hiding ten fans each, large grubby cylinder from which the water vapour escapes and loud noise. Some of his other simpler pieces are maybe more effective, but if you stand at the bottom and look up to see a whirlwind of floodlit water vapour rise and be consumed by a massive black hole meters above you you can almost manage it. In ten years time when technology has advanced this piece will be stunning. Although in ten years time it will be easy to create this kind of spectacle so maybe it wouldn’t be so impressive. Or maybe we’ll all have one in our bathrooms. I enjoyed it anyway.

Afterwards we paid €5 to go up in the lift to the top of the tower. I had been told and read in many guide books that this is the best view of Venice by far. Well I can’t confirm as I’ve not ascended many towers in Venice, but it’s very impressive. You can really see how the city rises out of the water.

As we were leaving the church another massive cruise ship was skulking through the Giudecca Canal. It was massive, almost as tall as the tower we had just been up. I paid €5 for my view, and these passengers probably paid thousands, so I felt very thrifty indeed.

We walked back past the only remaining gondola workshop in Venice and had an ombra and some chicetti overlooking the canal.

Burano (Day 14)

Another day off, and another week complete. I've now finished a third of my stint here. If I was to think of my stay as a sandwich it would now look a bit like this.

Venice is busy and noisy and after two weeks it can get a bit claustrophobic. So today we left the main island and visited Burano, famous for fishermen, lace, cats and biscuits. A lovely mix. It's a real picture postcard little island. Every house is painted a different colour. The architecture is so different to Venice main.

Everything is on a much smaller scale, and after walking past massive churches over vast piazzas for a few weeks it feels like a toy town. I couldn't tell if all the houses and boats were actually quite small or if I had just become accustomed to everything being big. An American tourist I overheard summed it up perfectly "Oh my god, this is like so not even real".

The pace of life is slow and relaxed and it's extremely quiet and peaceful. It was a very welcome change from the hustle and bustle of Venice and we wandered around happily. Bearing in mind it was a Monday afternoon at 4pm, we were surprised to find the post office closed. Infact not much was happening and no one seemed very inclined to rush or do much. It has a a lazy island feel. I don't mean this in a bad way. It's so lazy that when somone wants to sell their house on Burano they just put up a laminated piece of paper on their front door.

Even the main bell tower can't be bothered to stand up straight.

And they've put up new bridges so that you don't have to walk up any steps. This does mean that boats can't get down the canals, but that's ok because their captains are all at home snoozing anyway.

Having said this it's amazing what the people of Burano CAN be bothered to do. They spend time fashioning little aeroplanes out of plastic bottles...

...and building precarious loft conversions...

...and gerenally painting anything that stays still long enough a bright colour. (this picture doesn't do it justice but basically every bit of the metal in this alley is multicoloured).

This water taxi owner has gone to great lengths to make his waiting room feel homely. He has placed a carpet by the landing stage and there is a telephone if you need to call him to come and take you to you to your destination with a sign explaining the procedure.

The feline population were a little more active, welcoming visitors and allowing us to stroke them a bit before turning around and going back to sleep.

We noticed that one had been chasing a bird through wet concrete.

It was a very lazy, chilled out day and just what I needed after rushing around.

As we made our way back to Venice there was a big rain storm with thunder and lightening. We were impressed how this man in his boat heading the other way was prepared for the occaision.  

Oh, I nearly forgot, I'm sure you were wondering where you had mislaced your bread hammock and small lace apron perfect for bottles of wine or culinary genius pets...well I found them.

Cornucopia (Day 13)

Ok. Where to begin. I have a lot of different things to say today. It all started with some Nordic walking past the Welsh pavillion this morning.

This is an activity that I feel was much more fun as a spectator than a participant.

Then I went to look at some more art. We went to the Arsenale. I wasn't expecting much as I had been told it wasn't great. I was actually pleasantly surprised. I'm going to go back and look at it properly, especially queing for James Turrell, but for now my recommendations include... Roman Ondak, Mai-Thu Perret, Franz West, Ryan Gander, Haroon Mirza, Gerard Byrne, Elisabetta Benassi, Elad Lassry, Urs Fischer, Corinne Wasmuht, Christian Marclay, Gigi Scaria and Ayse Erkmen. There was a particularily weak effort from the Italian Pavillion. It was so crammed with artwork, displayed on strange white plastic coat-rails, but one work stood out for me....Greta Frau.

There was quite a lot of large scale 'kitsch' sculpture which seems to be making a comeback. I have to admit I was quite dissapointed as to how well the artworks were being kept and maintained this year. There was a lot of dirt, dust and fingerprints and the grubby face marks around the Croatia pavillion videos were pretty unforgivable. Part of me wonders whether it was meant to be like this as the work was about residue, but I'm fairly sure it's not.

So onto my next topic...For the last few days there have been loads of police around in Venice. They have guns and riot shields but don't really look like they mean business, they just seem to stand around talking and checking their phones. From what I can make out there is a referendum and protests going on, but I haven't been witness to any. I feel a bit out of the loop as I haven't been checking the news. Anything could have happened in the world and I would be none the wiser. It's like a little venice bubble. It's quite nice really, but maybe next week I will get back in touch with reality.

And another completely unrelated event...I know this sounds stupid but it rained today and it was lovely!! The first rain since I got here. Obviously we were stranded in a bar drinking Spritz until it subsided, and being fiercly told by the bloke who has his studio opposite us that we should be drinking beer or we'd be in danger of getting drunk.

And now to my final and last topic. I want to finish this blog with a big congratulations to two friends who've decided they like each other enough to spend the rest of their lives togther...that's pretty impressive. Congratulations guys! They got engaged last night, and there was me thinking it would just be another normal day. Venice's reputation as the city of love is upheld.

Dogs (Day 12)

I am going to cheat a bit today and get someone else to do my work for me. We have two birthdays in the house and I therefore need to write my blog early before joining in the celebrations. If anything fascinating happens I can always include it tomorrow, but I’m pretty sure it will just involve lots of food, lots of wine, a late night and an early morning.

I’ve noticed that there are hundreds of dogs in Venice. You’ve probably noticed too as pretty much every blog I write features one of our lovely four legged friends. As a bit of an animal lover I thought I may just have a built-in radar for these things and so notice them more, but now I’m certain there are more dogs in Venice than people.

Here is a very hot looking one I met. Ahhh.

 
And here is one we met late last night, who wasn’t quite so ‘Ahhh’. He was a bit more ‘Grrrr’.

In all fairness he was a little lost and frightened, or so we thought. He kept barking and running around, seemingly looking for his owner. We rang the number on his collar, but no answer. Then the group sitting next to us had more luck and informed the owner of his whereabouts so they could come and collect the poor little thing. We waited and waited but no one came. I was starting to consider whether our landlady would mind another lodger, much to the concern of my fellow tenants, when the dog ran off. I followed him into another square, where he still seemed distressed, barking and generally winding himself up. There I discovered he was a bit of a local character. He frequents the bars of the Rialto Market with his owner most nights and always acts like this - small dog syndrome. His name was Ginger.   

With all these canine antics comes a lot of dog excrement. The rule of picking it up in a bag doesn’t seem to apply, or if a particularly conscious owner has bothered, they then just leave a little bag of poo on the street instead, which is even worse in my opinion.   

The one that deposited this charming pile was obviously not impressed by the service they received from Ikea.

So with the scene nicely set I’d like to introduce you to Maggie. (I wanted to insert a picture of Maggie ehre, but my computer won't let me). Maggie visits Venice every year and writes an excellent blog on her time here, a bit like me but much more useful. So I thought I’d leave you in her capable paws for today’s information, while I go off and let my hair down. Check out her blog, Maggie in Venice, here.

Pizza numero uno (Day 11)

Today I got that little bit closer to feeling at home. I went and got my Tessera, a Vaporetto card that lasts 5 years and has my photo on it...a definate progression towards Venetian citizenship.

I then took my first Vaporetto trip. I suppose up until now I felt like I could have been anywhere in Italy as I had not stepped foot (if that's the right phrase) on water. It all changed today when I took a boat from Giardini to Ca' Rezzonico. It's a rubbish photo but I was properly excited so not in the
best disposition to take impressive tourist snaps.

I was also overly excited as I was on my way to meet my better half, fresh off his Ryanair flight from Bristol. I was looking forward to showing him around, all the things I've seen over the last two weeks. I promptly got us lost. But who can blame me when there are signs like this...

It's like Alice in Wonderland. It's all Maybe's and Possibly's. Nothing is certain in Venice. We went for a pizza at Al Nono Risorto, my first one so far. I know, I can't believe it either! The only thing I really wanted on it was artichokes, but the menu was all in Italian. I have to confess to not learning enough of the language before I got here. I'm improving and I've mastered ordering food and wine. By process of elimination I guessed at one that would be to my taste. It was lush. here it is...

And now we are sat outide Bancogiro, again, a favourite place of mine, drinking Spritz and writing this blog. There is a stage set up by the Partito Democratico, which I'm guessing is the Venetian Democratic Party, although their logo looks like some kind of franchise operation linked to PG Tips.

There is some eccentric woman on stage dressed as Bo Peep with a Gondola fashioned from a wheelbarrow and singing the Walls Cornetto tune. I'm not quite getting the political message?!

What more can I say????

A bit of a boring blog (Day 10)

Another day of small observations. I've been working everyday this week so the only chance I have to spot anything worth blogging about is on my way to and from work. I'm pleased to say this will all change on Saturday as I have some time off and will be doing all sorts of interesting things to make up for it. So if anyone is bothering to read this please stick with it, it will get better soon I promise!

I have made one interesting(ish) discovery. Until today there are two things I've noticed were missing from Venice. The first was postmen. Now I'm not completely stupid. I know they must exist as we have received post, houses have letter boxes, you can buy stamps and postcards - the evidence is mounting up...but I have never seen them. I started to look out for them on my daily walk.

Then today as walked down an alleyway Victoria pointed one out to me. The reason I have never spotted them before is that they don't wear a uniform here. They don't even have bags that say the equivalent of 'Royal Mail'. So all those men carrying big heavy bags, wearing shorts and trainers are actually postmen. I tried to take a picture of him but he hid, so the man behind him stepped in to do a very good impression of a postman instead, and the man behind him in the background looks like he might be having a wee up against the wall.

A few minutes later I was more successful. This is a Venetian postman.

I find this odd. I was under the impression they were quite into uniforms here? See example below of a very proud group in uniform - There are hundreds of sailors, and sailor cadets walking around everyday in crisp white uniforms, especially along the Riva Degli Schiavoni and around the Arsenale. How they manage to look impecable in this heat is a mystery. I can barely manage to walk to the shop without looking like I may have taken a tumble into a canal.

The second thing I've noticed a distinct lack of are playgrounds. I haven't spotted a single one. Not even a slide or some swings. I actually feel quite sorry for the kids who live in Venice, it seems to cater much more for grown ups and there are lots of hard surfaces to graze knees on, rather than grass or greenery. The population of Venice is predominantely old. Maybe that's why. But even without playgrounds there's not much here to occupy the younger generation. The only toys I've seen for sale are squeeky plastic chickens in the pet shop window or this little wooden Pinocchio in the hardware shop.

So if you ever need a Stayer BH14K drill and a small wooden Pinocchio toy you know the shop to go to!

That's it, end of boring blog.

A logistical nightmare (Day 9)

A good start to the day when I saw an interesting pile of rubbish.

The refuse collection here is very different to Cardiff. They collect the bins everyday. I've been watching the bin men, on foot, wheel big carts around and realise this is why. The logistics of living and working in Venice are that you have to do everything little and often. Anything you want, you have to carry home yourself. There are no cars to load with shopping.

I can imagine that if you needed a new sofa in Venice you'd put it off for as long as possible, not wanting to get it up the stairs or home from the shop. Maybe that's why everything is so old, not because it's preserving history but because no one can be bothered to carry the new stuff here in the first place! I've found myself judging shop owners thinking "why did you choose to open a furniture shop, surely postcards or other less cumbersome goods are a better way to go?" I'm guessing there are delivery boats for this sort of problem but not all houses are situated on a canal. It begs the question why anyone could be bothered to build Venice in the first place? Did they not think these things through? It's lovely for me as a visitor because everything is beautiful, there are no cars, I shop for fresh food everyday and wander home with it. But I bet trying to live here permanently is a nightmare. All the old ladies have shopping carts, but they're still no use if you're telly breaks or you decide to invest in a dishwasher.

On a completely different topic, the dog moved today. Here he is, a few feet outside the shop (his owners are from the wiser bunch of Venetian's selling small things that aren't too heavy). He looks a bit confused and dissorientated.

And the pidgeon has taken to sleeping the other way around. Maybe he doesn't like having his photo taken. Maybe Autumn is coming, animals can sense these things.

I'm afraid I don't have many illustrations of my day today. Just the above observations. After work I went for a nice glass of wine and some food with friends, and we watched a really rubbish band in the square by the market.

And also found the entrance to a secret house. Not sure if this picture does it justice but there is a keyhole in this pillar by Bancogiro bar on the side that faces the Canal at Rialto.

My shoe broke on the way home. Rubbish. It's all that walking I'm doing. Then the internet broke when I got home (hence why I am posting this blog the morning after).