Archive | September, 2011

Saturday morning in Venice dawned sunny and inviting.  After a leisurely breakfast in our little kitchen, we set off to explore the city.

We found a gondola waiting for us right outside our apartment door!  Just joking.  Gondola rides cost 80-100 euro (US$110-140) a ride.  We’ll save our gondola experience for another time.

We found the local hospital in a nearby piazza.  So this is where I might work as a nurse if we lived in Venice?  And spoke fluent Italian? And were Venetian?

Venetian tourist shops are filled with papier-mâché Carnival masks.  And, occasionally, cute dogs.

We found a lovely bookstore with the self-appointed status of “the most beautiful bookstore in the world.”  We bought vintage Venetian postcards for our family here.

A common sight in Venice.  The pink wine bottles on ice are Bellini, a local drink made from prosecco and peach juice.  Mmmm!

And finally… St. Mark’s Square!  It was a little bit of a euphoric moment (hence looking dumb on tip-toe) to stand here with St Mark’s Cathedral and the Doge’s Palace behind me.  I have read about this place since I was so little.  (Siblings, do you remember Vivaldi’s Ring of Mystery on tape when we were young?)

A close-up of the Doge’s (duke’s) Palace, back from the days when Venice was a dukedom.  Do you remember studying the salmon-colored building in architecture in 8th grade, siblings?  Finally I’ve seen it myself.

The perimeter of St. Mark’s Square is lined with cafes.  We took this photo for you, Eden.

The famous pigeons of St. Mark’s Square.

A lace shop along the Square.  My mom owns a strawberry-embroidered linen set just like this one.

At the end of the square we caught this couple kissing on the pier.  

It was such a good shot that I walked up to them after their kiss and offered to take a picture for them.  And then they returned the favor!

We walked on along the southern edge of Venice away from St. Mark’s Square and towards a public garden.  According to Rick Steve’s, this is the only place in Venice where picnics are allowed.  So, of course, we picnicked on our packed lunch.  And gave Lena a welcome break from the baby carrier. 

And then onward.  The Chiesa (church) di Santa Maria della Salute is in the background here. It’s across the Grand Canal on a separate island entirely.  Venice itself is built on thousands of little islands, and the water is so shallow that you could walk from island to island through the water without getting your hair wet.  Hence Venetians have their traditionally flat-bottomed gondolas.  Nowadays the canals are often deeper to allow for heavier water traffic.

Outside Harry’s Bar, once a hangout for characters like Ernest Hemingway, we spotted an excited crowd around some Italian film celebrities.  They were total hams, posing for photographs.

The most fashionable street in Venice.  Elliott wasn’t sure what to think of some of these dresses…

Versace and gondolas.

One of the water taxis is about to pass under the bridge.  These gleaming wooden motorboats are so 1940s in their appearance that I expected to see Grace Kelly sitting in one of them. Meanwhile, a forgetful gondolier left his straw hat on the railing.

We found an art display by a Ukranian woman named Oksana Mas.  She had used thousands of hand-painted wooden eggs to create a beautiful iconic portrait.  It was breathtaking!  Here’s a close up:

And here’s the whole art display.

Lions are the symbol of Venice.  I found hundreds of lions on door knockers and doorbells all over the city.

The Scala Contarini del Bovolo, which has magnificent views from the courtyard at the top of the staircase.  Unfortunately we didn’t see these views because the scala was closed for construction.  Boo.
 

And then down a final alleyway…

… and out to the Grand Canal, with the famous Rialto Bridge in sight.

The bridge was a cacophony of tourists and overstuffed shops.  The view from the bridge, however, was reward enough for being jostled and over-stimulated.  The crumbling, watery, romantic Venice in all her glory.

We stepped off the bridge into the quiet back alleys of Venice to find the fish market for our supper supplies.  Along the way we spotted a bride and groom!  This was not the first wedding we found in Venice.  One wedding procession we came across was entirely American.  Quite the destination wedding.

 
After dinner we took a nighttime walk through the streets and back to magical St. Mark’s Square.  But I’ll save those for tomorrow.

Saturday morning in Venice dawned sunny and inviting.  After a leisurely breakfast in our little kitchen, we set off to explore the city.

We found a gondola waiting for us right outside our apartment door!  Just joking.  Gondola rides cost 80-100 euro (US$110-140) a ride.  We’ll save our gondola experience for another time.

We found the local hospital in a nearby piazza.  So this is where I might work as a nurse if we lived in Venice?  And spoke fluent Italian? And were Venetian?

Venetian tourist shops are filled with papier-mâché Carnival masks.  And, occasionally, cute dogs.

We found a lovely bookstore with the self-appointed status of “the most beautiful bookstore in the world.”  We bought vintage Venetian postcards for our family here.

A common sight in Venice.  The pink wine bottles on ice are Bellini, a local drink made from prosecco and peach juice.  Mmmm!

And finally… St. Mark’s Square!  It was a little bit of a euphoric moment (hence looking dumb on tip-toe) to stand here with St Mark’s Cathedral and the Doge’s Palace behind me.  I have read about this place since I was so little.  (Siblings, do you remember Vivaldi’s Ring of Mystery on tape when we were young?)

A close-up of the Doge’s (duke’s) Palace, back from the days when Venice was a dukedom.  Do you remember studying the salmon-colored building in architecture in 8th grade, siblings?  Finally I’ve seen it myself.

The perimeter of St. Mark’s Square is lined with cafes.  We took this photo for you, Eden.

The famous pigeons of St. Mark’s Square.

A lace shop along the Square.  My mom owns a strawberry-embroidered linen set just like this one.

At the end of the square we caught this couple kissing on the pier.  

It was such a good shot that I walked up to them after their kiss and offered to take a picture for them.  And then they returned the favor!

We walked on along the southern edge of Venice away from St. Mark’s Square and towards a public garden.  According to Rick Steve’s, this is the only place in Venice where picnics are allowed.  So, of course, we picnicked on our packed lunch.  And gave Lena a welcome break from the baby carrier. 

And then onward.  The Chiesa (church) di Santa Maria della Salute is in the background here. It’s across the Grand Canal on a separate island entirely.  Venice itself is built on thousands of little islands, and the water is so shallow that you could walk from island to island through the water without getting your hair wet.  Hence Venetians have their traditionally flat-bottomed gondolas.  Nowadays the canals are often deeper to allow for heavier water traffic.

Outside Harry’s Bar, once a hangout for characters like Ernest Hemingway, we spotted an excited crowd around some Italian film celebrities.  They were total hams, posing for photographs.

The most fashionable street in Venice.  Elliott wasn’t sure what to think of some of these dresses…

Versace and gondolas.

One of the water taxis is about to pass under the bridge.  These gleaming wooden motorboats are so 1940s in their appearance that I expected to see Grace Kelly sitting in one of them. Meanwhile, a forgetful gondolier left his straw hat on the railing.

We found an art display by a Ukranian woman named Oksana Mas.  She had used thousands of hand-painted wooden eggs to create a beautiful iconic portrait.  It was breathtaking!  Here’s a close up:

And here’s the whole art display.

Lions are the symbol of Venice.  I found hundreds of lions on door knockers and doorbells all over the city.

The Scala Contarini del Bovolo, which has magnificent views from the courtyard at the top of the staircase.  Unfortunately we didn’t see these views because the scala was closed for construction.  Boo.
 

And then down a final alleyway…

… and out to the Grand Canal, with the famous Rialto Bridge in sight.

The bridge was a cacophony of tourists and overstuffed shops.  The view from the bridge, however, was reward enough for being jostled and over-stimulated.  The crumbling, watery, romantic Venice in all her glory.

We stepped off the bridge into the quiet back alleys of Venice to find the fish market for our supper supplies.  Along the way we spotted a bride and groom!  This was not the first wedding we found in Venice.  One wedding procession we came across was entirely American.  Quite the destination wedding.

 
After dinner we took a nighttime walk through the streets and back to magical St. Mark’s Square.  But I’ll save those for tomorrow.

Venice.  What a magical place!  Our guidebook used words like crumbling and romantic and watery when describing Venice, and they are well-chosen.  Italy in general has an incredibly high bar set for it by literature, history, and former travelers who remember everything in a rosy haze.  It’s hard for Italy to actually be so otherworldly in its romantic perfection for the average traveler.  However, I will say simply that Venice surpassed my expectations,  surprising me again and again by its tenacious ancient beauty.

Before the photos, a bit about where we stayed.

In general, Elliott and I (and now Baby too) travel on a budget.  OK, a tight budget.  Often we CouchSurf while traveling because it’s free and we can meet friendly residents of whatever city or country we’re visiting.  However, there were no CouchSurfers in Venice (!), and we realized this is because the hosts would probably have visitors 24/7.  Venice itself is tiny and thus most tourists pay $100+/night to stay in the city or else take a train or boat to a nearby island or city for cheaper lodging each night.  We knew that it would be difficult to explore all day with a baby, though, and that we’d be tired by about 3pm and ready for naps all around. 

But then Elliott found a studio listed on airbnb.com.  It seemed too good to be true: a whole apartment in the heart of Venice for just US$89 a night?  When a hotel room in the summer season would be over US$150 a night?  We’ll take it!

The owner of the studio met us at the vaparetto (boat bus from the mainland) and walked us through the winding streets to our apartment.  I was dragging a duffel bag and had completely forgotten that Venice was full of canals, and people ride in boats on the canals, and thus the bridges have to arch up, and arched bridges are kind of hard to get a heavy duffel bag over.  I huffed and puffed and tripped to the studio because I was too busy eagerly craning my neck in every direction.

The owner of the studio is a psychotherapist.  Yes.  Freud and all that.  Here’s the plaque outside his building:

The apartment is located on a quiet street in a very residential area of Venice.  We liked the lobby.

We also loved this view of a neighbor’s balcony from the stairwell.  We dragged our duffel bags up to the third floor…

… and there was the apartment!  By “studio” the owner meant “office” because he uses it during the week to see patients.  However, it’s a regular apartment with a large bathroom, bedroom, living/dining room, and kitchen.

We put down our bags and looked out the bedroom window.  And hello what a view across the street!  Our neighbor proceeded to dry all her lingerie this way all weekend.  

Lena settled in, happy as could be.

We were fascinated by the psychotherapist’s book collection.  Do you see the complete works of Freud?

Our favorite part of the apartment was the kitchen window, which looked out over one of the canals.  One of the first times I stood leaning out the window I saw this gondolier passing by, calling “Oiii!” to alert boats ahead as he poled through the water.

And then we set off into the Venetian sunset to find some supper.

We decided upon a pretty little restaurant by the water on the northern edge of Venice.   Lena was getting tired so I rocked her to sleep in my arms.

But of course as soon as I tried to lay her gently down on a pad of blankets, she woke up.  And studied that pizza, hoping to get a taste!  She’s so ready to eat real food.

After dinner we walked home in the quiet darkness, hand in hand.  We had three days of discovery ahead of us, and famous wonders like Saint Mark’s Square and the Doge’s Palace and the Rialto Bridge awaited us in the morning.

More photos of the weekend tomorrow!