Venezia

ahh, l'amour.

It's a city for lovers, or in this case, roommates.  What an experience I had this weekend at the city on the sea.  I must say it's like nothing I've ever seen: a city full of people and not a single car in sight.  Boats are the only mode of transportation, besides walking of course.  Come to think of it, I don't believe I saw a single bike, it might be hard to carry one up and down all the bridges and or ride one around the tight street corners.  And truthfully I don't know that I saw a single local, not that I would know what one looks like anyway.  Venice is entirely full of tourists.  It makes sense, the city is one of the most known sites in the world, there truly isn't another place remotely similar in design or beauty.

on the ferry approaching piazza san marco.

palazzo ducale by night

We left Friday afternoon from Torino and drove about 5 hours across Northern Italy.  I suppose I can now say I've traversed the knee/lower thigh of the boot - oh, how risque'!  We took a ferry to the island south of Venice where a semi-shady hostel awaited our arrival.  It wasn't too bad, there were clean linens to be had and free coffee, but let's just say next time I'll remember to bring a shower shoes.  I felt like I was back in the dorms!  We ventured out in the evening and I was quite overcome by the beauty of Venice by night.  There were lights delicately illuminating the landscape and reflections of majestic Gothic facades in the water.  We walked across piazza San Marco and admired the basilica, the clock tower, and Palazzo Ducale.  Ponte Rialto was another spot we found - it's a huge bridge across the Grand Canal and happens to be the oldest, the original structure was erected in 1181.

 why my brother wouldn't like venice

ponte rialto by night

Saturday we set off on our own to take our photos of the quaint corners of Venice and discover the mysteries of the city.  Venezia is known to be a difficult city to navigate, as the streets are organically organized and often dead end or lack proper signage.  However, I found the beauty of Venice to be in my walks around the island without a map, just my keen sense of direction.  I came across quiet streets with flowers hanging from windows, shutters warped from the summer heat and paint peeling from the wooden panels.  I crossed over steep bridges that were ancient cement paths above the tranquil canals between buildings.  I sat in a piazza staring up at a beautiful baroque church and across to a small, ivy-covered Murano glass workshop.  I passed by shop windows full of gorgeous hand-painted Venetian masks and elaborate hand-sewn marionettes.  I was falling in love with Venice.  I think it must be impossible not to.

getting an art fix in venezia

I trekked over to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection to see a museum full of some of the most well-known modern artists in the world.  I chatted with a docent in Italian about a particular series of abstract expressionist paintings by Adolph Gottlieb and marveled at the palazzo where the mistress of modern art once lived.  An incredible sight was the Santa Maria della Salute church, a constructed in 1630 after a particularly devastating outbreak of the plague and thus dedicated to Mary and health.

santa maria della salute

How can I put into words the way Venice captures the heart?  I suppose I can only say that it is a dreamy, surreal city that has been placed delicately upon the water and exists in a beautifully fragile state.  And yes, there are couples everywhere.  Everywhere.  I luckily didn't feel the urge to throw myself in the Grand Canal watching newlyweds toast champagne on gondolas.  Instead of enjoying the city with a partner or lover by buying roses offered by the Moroccans, taking a gondola ride through the canals, or smooching in piazza San Marco, I rather fell in love with the awe-inspiring isolated corners of the city itself.  Venice, you mysterious temptress, you'll be seeing me again.

beautiful mask in a shop window