Italy: part 2 of 3

I apologize ahead of time: I am a sucker for facts and trivia!

On to Venice we went. Venice wasn't anything special for me. Perhaps, it was because its really a city for couples. However, it could also be because there was no plan yet again (bah! Frustration peaking!!). Or rather, the plan was to arrive and then decide what to do from there. But, I'll spare the dramatic details and just give highlights from the trip through explanation of pictures. (sorry, these will be in no specific order).

Some quick info about Venice:

-the island is actually wood piles. Wood does not decay when kept underwater and when it is not exposed to oxygen. It has essentially petrified into a stone like substance.

-Several rivers have been diverted to prevent flooding of Venice.

-The first printing of the Koran was done in Venice in the 1500s.

-The population of Venice in 2008 was around 60,000 and approx 1000 people move out of Venice each year.

-The population of Venice in the 1950s was around 184,000.

- There are 400 footbridges in Venice.

- There are 3,000 alleys in Venice; the narrowest being only 35 inches wide.

- It takes at least 90 minutes to walk from one end of Venice to the other.

- There are 0 cars driving in Venice. There is a ~2.5 mile bridge connecting Venice to the mainland. There is a parking garage and bus station in Venice; so you can drive there, but cannot drive once you are there.

-Grand Canal is about 9 feet deep and 2.3 miles long.

- Venice floods ~50 times per year.

- All of the wells around Venice (and you see them everywhere) have been boarded up (with metal lids) to prevent the sinking.

- Estimates since 2005 report that Venice is no longer sinking, but the state of alert has not been lifted.

When we got to Venice it started to pour rain! I don't recall ever being in such a dumping. I was so glad that I purchased this umbrella in Firenze.

We rode the Vaporetto (which is like a bus, but its a boat) from the bus station to San Marco Piazza. It was a fun ride and a great way to get an introduction to the city of Venezia.

I have a bunch of pictures of Gondolas, but I think this one is my favorite! I never took a Gondola ride, too expensive. Maybe someday...

This looked like they were setting up for a scene for a movie or a concert or something. E said that Brad and Angelina were in Venice filming a movie. I never saw anyone I recognized with it, but I took a picture of the set up anyway! hehe

Some of the Murano glass. It is soo pretty! And so expensive. They are having a huge influx of glass from China now and are doing specials on their glass and tours of their factories to stress the importance of buying original. In my opinion, the glass is all made the same way, meaning the stuff in China is the same quality as the stuff in Murano, so why should it matter if you buy original or not. I am actually all for doing things to keep the market competitive.

This is me on San Marco Piazza. You can see the San Marco Basilica in the background. Also, the Campanile di San Marco (or bell-tower). The Campanile was originally built in the 10th Century and doubled as a watchtower. It had famous guests like Galileo and Goethe. In the 15th Century it was damaged by an earthquake. Then, in the early 1900's a crack was noted near the upper window on the side facing the Basilica. When the crack was discovered they stopped the bells from chiming to prevent further cracking and damage. However, within a short period of time (maybe only one or two days, not really clear about this) the bell tower collapsed. It was rebuilt and christened on April 25, 1912, 1000 years to the day after the christening of the original bell-tower.

This is the facade of the San Marco Basilica. On the left side you can see the "construction" that is being done on the building. Probably a preservation process. The corpse of Mark, the apostle, is buried in here. Everything except his head. His entire corpse was originally in Alexandria. This is where his head is believed to be now. His body was taken from Alexandria by two Venice merchants in the 800s. In order to get them safely out of Alexandria (a Muslim city), the merchants covered the remains in pork lard. This was to protect the corpse from being taken back by the Muslims as they are not allowed to touch pork products.

Then, the corpse was lost for a period of time. A new basilica was being built for the new patron saint--San Marco (aka Mark, the apostle). According to tradition, it was during construction when the remains were found when an arm was discovered extending from a pillar. The corpse was then relocated to a sarcophagus in the basilica, where they remain to this day.

We did go inside the basilica, but, no pictures were allowed. :(

This is me in front of the Doge's palace (which I chose not to tour) and the San Marco basilica.

The Rialto Bridge. It is one of only 4 bridges in Venice that span the Grand Canal. There was a pontoon bridge in this position originally. But with the traffic it go,t because of the Rialto market, it was decided that a more permanent structure should be made. There were 2 previous Rialto bridges here. Both were made of wood. Both had the same structure as the current bridge today, although the center of the bridge was able to move up and down to allow larger boats passage underneath. Both, succumbed to the Grand Canal though, once because so many people were on it watching a boat parade. Oops! Then they built this one out of stone. It has thus far withstood the test of time (built in the 1500s). It is lined with merchant shops on both sides. Rent from these shops goes towards maintenance of the bridge.

This is a pretty waterway on the island of Murano. We went there for a free tour of a glass factory. Thanks Aunt Amy for cluing me into that!

This is one of the furnaces in the showroom for the making of the glass. They put the silica sand in those pots inside the furnace and then heat them up. Then, they put these rods into the pots to get some of the hot, liquid, sand/glass on the tips.

This is a picture of one of the glass objects they were working with. It is in the furnace and if you look close, you can see the hot flames coming out of the furnace door. These rods were quite long, I'd say 5-8 feet. And the furnace was sooo warm. It was lovely!

Here they are blowing the glass to increase the size of the object. It is really a cool process! I wasn't brave enough to ask if I could take a turn blowing on the rod. I don't know if they'd let me though. Maybe next time I'll at least ask! :)

This is MJ, me, and E on our taxi ride to Murano.

Napoli has all sorts of tagging. However, this picture, and the one above of the Rialto bridge, show that no where is immune to tagging. I do think it is worse in Italy than any other place I have been. And it's funny, because Venice's population is mostly Senior Citizens!

Broken, sinking boat. I can't tell for sure, but this is probably equivalent to the trashy neighbors who have a broken car in their driveway/along their road most of the time.

Just a pretty picture of a random, very European, street.

Me on a bridge in Venice. So many bridges...so little time! I am sure I didn't cross all of them. I probably didn't even come close!

This is the Bridge of Sighs (it is not the open air bridge in the background like E thought, it is the covered bridge in the foreground like I thought). It connects the Doge's palace with the prison. The Bridge of Sighs is so named because as prisoners were led from being judged by the Doge into the prison they would cross this bridge. It was the last glimpse of the sun and of the outside world before they would be locked up for extended periods, sometimes forever. It is said that prisoners would let out an audible sigh when the impact of the situation would overtake them.

Pardon the construction. That is why there are these big blue advertisements all around the bridge!

This is a Gondola making shop. There is a big church in the background. I just liked this picture.

Here is the same Gondola making shop.

Some Gondola facts:

-It costs around $35,000 USD to make a Gondola.

-They are made from beech, mahogany, cherry, elm, fir, larch, lime, oak, and walnut.

-280 pieces of wood go into handcrafting a Gondola.

-There are 400 Gondolas on the canals of Venice today, compared to the 10k there were in the 15th and 16th Centuries.

-By law, Gondolas can only be black.

-There are no women Gondoliers. In 2007 a hotel in Venice hired a woman to steer their private Gondola but she was never recognized by the Gondolier's association, cannot officially call herself a Gondolier, and by law, is only allowed to "paddle" guests from that hotel.

There were tons of paper mache mask stores. The 1st day we stopped in almost every mask store between San Marco Piazza and the bus terminal. The masks were cool and very elaborate, but they basically all had the same qualities. I was about to go mad. The 2nd day, MJ and E wanted to go to another mask store and I threatened suicide. At that point, we decided to split off and do our own things. I just wandered the streets for most of the day. It was nice to be off doing my own thing, although I would have preferred it if I had a book to know where the cultural/historical things were, but oh well. Next time! I found this mask in one of the stores as I was wandering. It was, by far, the coolest mask I had seen in all the hundreds of mask stores I had been in.

This is more than just a pretty shot: it was the first and only time I saw a market on a boat. Notice the boat on the left side of the picture. He had goods from fish to fresh fruits and veggies.

I love this picture! I can't really say why. It's just serene, and colorful, yet not too much. And, I think it shows depth. I just like it!

Me and MJ chillin in the apartment. My feet were sooo tired after walking all day!

MJ and I eating some pistachio marzipan chocolate I had found in a small little chocolate shop. I asked for two of these chocolates and paid 6 euro for them! That's 3 euro a chocolate (about $4.50/chocolate). I probably wouldn't have purchased them if I knew how much they were initially. But, they were amazing so I suppose it was worth it. The chocolate shop was in more of a non-tourist location and the shop was ranked #1 chocolate shop several years in a row by Venezian residents. So that's worth something, right? Yup. 3 euro a chocolate! hehe

Since getting back, I have found out that chocolate, in its solid form, was originally developed in Italy. It was either in Milan or Turin, can't remember which one for sure. Before that, it was only available as the bean, or in a liquid.

Because of the humidity in Venice, the buildings are in a chronic state of disrepair. They need a new coat of paint every year, and a new coat of stucco every 2-3 years! This just shows a wall where the paint, and stucco, are getting near the needed repair.

I thought this was interesting. All the lamp-posts in Venice were rose colored. I would expect that in Paris, didn't expect it in Venice. I never found out if that carries any significance, or if its just generally considered a town for couples and the rose colored lamps improve the mood. If anyone knows, please tell?!

This is me standing on the bank of the Grand Canal. Some places it is super wide, some places it is not.

Well, that is the last of Venice. The next and last stop was Napoli. I have a bunch of pictures from that part, but will try to limit it a little so that its not terribly overwhelming to read my post!