7/22 first day in venice

a canal in venice


besides airports, i think that i also hate the path from the airport, or, in this case, train station to our temporary residence. in florence it wasnt so bad because paola’s dad was there, and although he didnt know where he was going any more than any of us, he seemed to be in charge. today, either paola or i were in charge. actually, it was more like in quantum mechanics, where it was a superpostion of paola and i in charge (which means that it doesnt make sense to say that paola was in charge, or that george was in charge, or that both of us were in charge, or that neither of us were in charge: thus superpostion). in any case, it we just wondered around, and asked people. it seemed as though everyone had a different opinion in which way we should go. actually, every single person that we asked pointed us in the right direction, but we still managed to seem lost. this is an easy situation to find yourself in while in venice.

in any case, we finally ofund our hotel. when we walked in, it seemed as though dracula lived there, and after i mentioned that idea, it also seemed like a bad scary movie (where after that is mentioned, dracula comes out and kills the person who said it). besides that, however, the hotel room is very nice, designed in what the propriators call the venetian style (basically, fancy wallpaper and curtains). paola is certainly impressed, while i wouldnt mind no matter the hotel as long as there was a roof, a door, and a full bathroom.

after i calmed down (like i said, i hated the trek there, and it angered me) with a shower, we went out exploring. we are very close to piazza san marco, which seems to be the main center in the whole city. there is a nice church (whose name i do not yet know) with very moorish features, such as the bubble dome. there are actually many cathedrals around venice that have such features, as we could tell in the ferry ride from the train station to piazza san marco (there are no cars in venice, only water taxis (ferries) that travel through the canals, and such). in any case, this main center is very impressive, and many restaurants have quartets playing classical or jazz music. another feature is the many pigeons. there are so many pigeons on the ground, it is ridiculous. perhaps the people who feed them are not from big cities and dont see pigeons every day. i know i do, and i have no desired to buy a bag of corn and have them eat out of my hand (i am scared that they will shit on me). one thing that was neat is that a favorite painter of mine, lucian freud, is having an exhibition here. he is one of the most important living painters. his pictures are of a realist, but very distinct style, and they are typically portraits of friends, family members, or whoever else). also, there is venice bienniale going on, which is an exhibition all over town in different galleries of contemporary art from all over the world (although most of the venues are in one area called the arsenele, which is cool) . this seems weird to me that in such a classical city there is such an emphasis on contemporary and modern art (there is even a guggenheim museum here which houses some important 20th century art, and where peggy guggenheim herself is buried). we also plan to see some more classic art in the ducale gallery, which is in the san marco square. we will try to do as much as we can in the next three days.

while walking around, we got lost in the tangle of small streets (some so skinny that i honestly think that some really fat people would have some trouble getting through. it is also neat because if you walk enough, you will inevitably get to some canal that you have to cross over a small bridge. because venice seems so big, i dont know if we will be able to get to cross all of the tangle of streets, and alleys. i think that if we actually try to hit up all the different venues for the bienniale, we will see most of the city (though that may be too ambitious of a task). you see, venice seems to be a series of small islands divided by several canals, and with all the winding streets, there is a lot to cover.