Venice

Venice

November 13-14, 2009

Friday at 7am we left on a charter bus with our school to go to Venice. We arrived around 11am, checked into our hotel with the group and had a free hour for lunch. We had an authentic Italian lunch before meeting up with our group at Frari Rocco, a church in Venice. We had two tour guide as well as dorky headsets that allowed us to hear the tour guides from a distance. They gave us a brief history of several art pieces in the church and showed us several private chapels within the church that were beautiful. We then headed to the ‘Scuola,’ which means school in Italian but in this case refers to the meeting place of a group or brotherhood within Venice. It was compared to the Free-Masons but obviously on a much smaller scale. It was gorgeous. My first words upon entering were “I want to have a ball here!” haha it was so ornately decorated from floor to ceiling with beautiful art panels. Later we went to a gondola workshop where they make gondolas. There are only five in all of Venice. The man who spoke to us runs and works there and his grandfather opened the workshop in the late 1800s and it has been in business ever since. He told us the whole process of making gondolas and described all the detail the goes into it including the fifteen different kinds of wood used to make them! I was amazed to learn that each gondola is specially made for its gondolier (the man who pushes the gondola). The weight of the gondolier is taken into account and the gondola is balanced accordingly. He also discussed the intense restrictions for the gondolas by the city of Venice. They must all be painted black a tradition that has continued since the 1800s and the colors of seats and interiors are limited as well. The total price of a single gondola is about €35,000 so around $50,000 US dollars. It was also amazing to hear that to this day there is only ONE female gondolier! The gondola maker told us that the people in charge of the gondolas are mafia-esque and that it is very hard to become a gondolier. The occupation is often only passed down through families and one must go to school and take a very rigorous exam to become one! It was overall pretty interesting!

We were given free time until 7pm so we decided to find our way back to the hotel to relax and freshen up before meeting back up with the group for a tour of Saint Mark’s Basilica. Venice is quite confusing to say the least as it is full of winding pathways, canals, bridges and islands since the city was constructed on marshlands. We contemplated skipping the tour of the Basilica and to just go to dinner, but I am SO happy we didn’t. Our group was granted entry after hours at St. Mark’s Basilica, which is very rare. As we walked in the outer corridors were slightly flooded since Piazza San Marco is the lowest point in all of Venice. But as we entered the main church all the lights were off. It was amazing! You could just tell how massive the interior was but you could barely see a thing. Our group was the only people in the whole church and we all just sat quietly in awe. The church was first built in the 800s!!!! So it is way older than most of the places I have been in across Europe! Sitting there in the dark cathedral was unbelievable. Slowly one by one the dim lights were turned on illuminating the millions of mosaic gold leaf and glass tiles that decorate every inch of the walls and ceilings of the grand church. The lights had such a way of reflecting off the tiles that it was surreal and almost magical. The gold leaf tiles were insane! They sparkled like nothing I have ever seen! It is by far my favorite church interior that I have seen since being in Europe. It was breathtaking. And the fact that we were the only ones there made the experience even more special. My tour guide was astonished when we were informed that they would let us walk up past the alter where normally only the priests are allowed to have a look at the crypt of Saint Mark and the gorgeous alter piece. It was really rare that they let us do that! The alter piece was exquisite and covered with hundreds of precious stones like emeralds and sapphires and made of pure gold. It normally is not seen by the public because it is placed past the alter so it was amazing to have the chance to see it. We then went below the alter to see the actual burial place of Saint Mark one of Jesus’ disciples. Supposedly his body was stolen and smuggled to Venice while hidden in the meat of pigs so that the Arab people would not question or search the package since they despise pigs. The body of St. Mark has been lost a few times since it has been in Venice as floods have dislodged the body, but miraculously it has always been recovered. I just love my program; they allow us to do the most amazing things!

We grabbed dinner and turned in early since we had to be up early Saturday morning with our group. It was amazing to stay in an actual hotel instead of a hostel. It was amazing to have fresh towels and shampoo provided and to have a bathroom in our room instead of a communal one! Oh the life of luxury! We have become quite accustomed to living without most conveniences! We all slept like babies too! The beds were so comfortable! I mean my bed in Florence is fine, but it will definitely be nice to have my bed back home and in Dallas. We all had breakfast in our hotel and headed to Piazza San Marco to climb the tower there. It had the most spectacular view of Venice! It really is amazing to see the city from above and all the various islands! For the rest of the day until 5pm we were given free time so we took the opportunity to take a vapporetto (water bus) to the island of Morono that is famous for its beautiful glass. It was about an hour ride and once we got there we had lunch and wandered in and out of all the different glass shops. The jewelry is so pretty and the glasswork is just so ornate and beautiful. After about two hours we went back to Piazza San Marco and made our way slowly back to the hotel, while window shopping.

It was a quick trip, but it was all we needed especially since I had been there before. Even though it has been eight years my memory is pretty incredible. We got back to Florence last night (Saturday) so it was nice we still have some of the weekend to enjoy here!

A dopo! (Until later)

Xoxo ciao

Kara