I'm on a Boat anndd, it's Going Fast anndd...

Today we mostly relaxed.

We went down to the Riallto bridge, which took a few hours as we shopped in every store in Venice. Or maybe that was how it felt. Anyways, I wasn't blameless since I got a (droool, I love this)pendant, earrings, and other things. I also bought a beautiful scarf for cheap which looks as if it is of expensive Spanish make. I wanted to buy a duck for Chris but didn't have any extra money at that point, and it wasn't that great quality. Hopefully I can get some pasta for him; I know how much he would appreciate that. I saw a jazz cd but didn't know if the music was good or not.

Most of the figurines would break in the suitcase, so we are not considering them, though we got a bird.

We ate in a delicious side place run by a Chinese man who had low prices and well-prepared shrimp salad. The Italians don't serve salad dressing from what I have seen, so I mixed some balsamic vinegar, pepper, salt, and olive oil into my salad, which tasted delicious. It was very cheap, too.

The businesses here in the tourist sector seems to be mostly split into lots of small stores and the high-end designers. I like it, as most of the stores sell made-in-Italy goods at reasonable prices. Hopefully Italy does not make its people slave to produce them, but I doubt it. The goods are also higher quality. I wish that we could have businesses like that, though I haven't seen any, say, office supply stores in Venice. Today was the first time we saw a chain store, which was called coin. It obviously catered to tourists, though, since everything in there was written in English without any Italian subtitles. I really like the "clocky" which runs away, but not at 55 euros. It felt kind of depressing to go in there after all the small businesses.

I wish we had time to visit the Venice where the Venetians live.

We got dressed again after showering and relaxing away from the heat. We ate at a restaurant while it got dark and the street entertainers came out, which was nice, though I felt guilty passing one without giving him change(no hers were present at this time). We walked to the canal and watched the gorgeous water seethe. It reminded me of a beating forest. I don't think it's a coincidence that this picturesque lagoon city is connected with glass. The inspiration is so close by, shining with a light that nobody has ever been able to capture. We watched the boats, talked, and came home.

One thing that bothers me about ancient art is certain symbols such as dark skin meaning evil or slanted eyes meaning evil. We must imbibe those to appreciate what the pictures mean, and personally it doesn't affect my day to day life, but it still makes me uncomfortable. Western society really needs to move on from those.

Tommorow I go back to the UK.

Dance, Dance

Tired; too tired to write a real entry, probably.

-Had a private tour of the Murano glass factory with a guide named Frederico.
This was included in the price of the hotel. We caught a water taxi which was nice with leather seats. Apparently there are "roads" in the water. The art pieces are amazing; the silica sand is so pure that they look as if lead is in the glass. Some pieces looked like porcelain, some had fishes in them, and many were dyed amazingly. There were even cubist pieces. Many were plated with gold and hand painted. We bought a necklace and two sets of earrings from the showroom, where you can't take pictures. It sort of spoiled all the other glass pieces selling around the place, which now look like plastic. From the cheaper room I got a necklace and a pendant, but the difference was clear. I think that, many years from now, museums will feature pieces from this place. So gorgeous. Our guide/salesman was very nice and strangely honest at the same time as trying to sell us things. I liked him a lot.

-Took a boat back to St Mark's Square
My dad and I saw the Archeological Museum, Correr Museum, Historical Museum and Art Museum. The Archeological Museum had a lot of Grecian statues and Roman copies of Grecian statues. The Historical museum featured the life of the Doge and some war pieces, including intricately carved...pikes/scythe hybrids and pistols. The art and historical museums featured art from many different periods, which was nice because of how close we could get to the paintings. I kept getting lost in them.

We then went to The Church of Gold. The line was about 20 minutes long; bring an umbrella. The ceiling is covered in gold and painted with Byzantine figures. We didn't see the treasury, though, but we went behind the altar. Reallllly pretty and different.

Since everything closes at this time, I bought a quick calzone(mmm blue cheese) and headed back to the room, where I took a long nap.

-Wandering Around
We sort of wandered the streets and shopped. I bought a little octopus and crab for Afif and Ilya, just because. I also finally got a mask, which are selling everywhere.

-Getting cheated for Dinner
Again. Plus Mosquitos. I hate these types of mosquito bites, as they don't stop itching and swell up to huge sizes like the ones that made me stop going to Trinidad for four years. That should give you an indication of how bad they were. Bring a bug zapper!

Little story on that later.

Abbr. Version of the Day

Yesterday my mom, dad, and I got up early to go to the Uffizi museum. Though we arrived there at 8:30am, the line was already about 20 minutes long. Apparently they only let people in in groups. The highlight was seeing Botticello’s Rite of Spring and Birth of Aphrodite. They look so much better in person, and the women’s hair glitters with real gold. There were also Titians, Rembrandts, Giottos, a lot of Grecian and Roman statues, and other notables. The ceiling was adorned with paintings. The medieval art glittered with gold and symbolism.
We then walked down to the Ponte Vecchio, which is full of gold shops.
We wandered around a bit, then my dad and I went to Santa Maria Novella. This is one of the few churches that felt as if it had a holy presence inside. Boticello’s Adoration of the Magi and Cross were inside, as were many beautiful works of art. The walls were full of frescos, tombs(?!), and paintings. It really is a must-see if you come here.
We also checked out a Roman fort, but it was closed. Everyone then went down to the Ponte Vecchio, Neptune Fountain, and Piti Palace. We ate at a restaurant with disgusting food, then went home.

Today I got up late to go down to the Eurostar. We took to train to Venice and a water taxi to the hotel. It’s very different. Venice is a city without cars or bikes; only pedestrians and boats roam the islands. It’s also gorgeous, without graffiti and seems more organized than Florence or Rome. Our hotel is luxurious, but has no elevator. We were starving but had arrived in time for the siesta, which takes place for good reason since it is boiling hot. My family ate leftover salami sandwiches and I had to eat gellato. We were all going to go to the grocery, but a bunch of us left and went back home. I saw a gorgeous church in the Venetian style, and we returned to our room to wait until the siesta and burning ended. The grand canal is big and everything glitters with white marble and water, which doesn’t smell contrary to popular opinion. I also bought postcards for people.

It’s funny because I’ve seen a bunch of people walking around with California t-shirts who obviously are not Californians. Also, there seem to be more Americans here. Why is all the music here English when most people speak it brokenly? This is not just in the tourist spots.

We then went to San Marco’s square. The Church of Gold is covered in it and shines when the sun hits the walls, but was closed. We wandered around a bit among pillars and gondolas and columns, then had trouble deciding where to eat. We accidentally ate at an expensive place and went home.

Argh! Mosquitos!

Falling into a Mud Puddle in Pisa

Little note: They serve vinegar and oil instead of butter in Italy. Also, straws are rare.

I feel better today. We got up early and took the train to Pisa. The Italian countryside has the same fractal distrubition as Los Angeles.There are cultivated sunflowers everywhere. There are a lot of decrepid places which we passed. Italy seems to be slowly degenerating from a lack of enforced rules.
We arrived after an hour later, to discover the tower was far away. I slipped in a mud puddle and fell. Yes, I got covered in it. Thankfully, there are a lot of taps in Italy, but there was no way to take the dirt off my white skirt which covered it the entire day.
My dad, mom, and I decided to walk to the tower. Pisa is very broken down, it seems, besides a few areas. My aunts and cousin were shopping. We saw the tower and my mom decided to join them. My dad and I bought tickets and saw the inside of the cathedral and battisere, which were beautiful. The architectural style is very different from Rome; less clutured but still involving many paintings. The ceiling was filled with gold flowers. I really want more time with those paintings. When I am an old, grumpy woman I'm going to come back to every major architectural wonder and museum and gaze at each painting for at least fifteen minutes each. The Battisere was simple, though coloums were carved with great skill. The simple altar was solomn brass.
My mom wanted to know why I like the churches so much. Besides the fact that beauty is not determined by religion, this art is created by the masters of the period using the full extent of their craft to celebrate what was most important to them. Religious art is sort of a doorway into the cultural subconcious and a look into how people viewed their idols and icons, another doorway into that mysteriosness of being human. The medieval icons I saw in retrospect seems to be respective of the period; technically proficent and yet flat, though this changed in later periods.
I wonder if taking pictures instead of writing those thousand words is detrimental in some way to eloquency? Anyways.
We though we had lost mom but I found her, the bus passed us by, and we all took a taxi back to the train which was not air conditioned this time and let us roast whenever it stopped. The train goes very fast, faster than Amtrak.
We returned, ate pizza, and my mom, dad, and I saw Il Duemo. The inside is actually fairly simple, with soaring ceilings and pretty windows. The outside is, well, complicated, full of green and white and statues and gold. Gorgeous. We wondered around for a bit on the streets and then came back to the hotel.

I may not be able to post tommorow.

The Vatican

Today we took a taxi to the Vatican out of practical considerations. Our taxi driver was honest and charged us under the pre-agreed price. The line to get into the museum was long but quick. We walked through room after room of detailed ceiling, faded but intricate tapestries. and walls covered in art. It was very obvious who was a master vrses who was a painter; a painter simply painted flat scenes, but a master made them come to life, like in the Sistine chapel. I love Michelagalo's work on form and shadow, but couldn't see his faces close enough to really appreciate them. Also, we were ushered in the opposite way the church was supposed to be seen, so most of the paintings were upside down. It's frustrating to be around a work of art in its original element and not be able to appreciate it.

No talking or pictures in the Sistine Chapel.

It interests me that everywhere I go I see people with cameras doing more snapping than seeing. Maybe I'm mistaken, but it almost seems as if sometimes people forgo living in the moment for taking a picture of it. I never really thought about this before I read an essay on it. Perhaps it is related to the fact that we are rushed through all of these places without time to truly appreciate the art or carvings.

The food at the Vatican was delicious, but the toilets had no seat covers.

We then headed over to the security check for St Peter's Cathedral, after which my dad and I got seperated from the rest of the group. We thought "Oh, the Cuppola, that seems like a good place to see". Unsuspecting, we bought tickets and took an elevator up to the heart of the beautiful church where all the saints were painted on the ceiling backed in gold. Then there were steps. 320 steps, to be exact. My dad and I nearly gave up, but it was one way only and we made it to the top of the tower where I took a couple pictures. Going down involved the same amount of steps but was not nearly as hard. We exited into the Basilica, which, well, no words. Michelangalo carved many statues in there, and the walls were filled with gold and paintings. Pictures didn't come out well inside, though.

We finally made contact and went into a few shops before going home with another honest cab driver, who charged us very cheaply.