Venice

Venice…

A city where the streets are for pedestrian traffic, and the only motorized vehicles are boats that access the houses and buildings through ocean canals. The kids have grown quite accustom to Subways, Metros, Tram, Taxi and bus systems by how. The main forms of public transportation we have been using over the past month to get to and from our daily destinations of museums, monuments, parks and cafes. It was a thrill for them to see the same systems of public transportation in use in Venice, but all of them waterborne craft of some sort. From the large public (and at times quite crowded) water buses, to the private water taxis, and the gondolas. There were all sorts of municipal watercraft as well, from trash “truck” boats, to construction boats, to all manor of private watercraft. It was the same as any of the other large cities we had visited, but everything was done on the water, in canals. The kids were blown away.

On the far side of the Grand Canal, opposite Saint Marks Square, the island was much quieter. The throngs of tourists were not evident here. I ran across a workshop where a very special part of the Venitian boats were crafted. This apparatus, a kind of oar-lock is a very special part of the indigenous watercraft, weather it was a Gondola, or other local boat. The workshop I visited was incredible. An apprentice was working when I walked in to the workshop and he took some time to talk to me about his craft. The basic explanation was that what he made was much like a letter in an alphabet, each one had a specific function, and was different form all of the others, a brilliant analogy. The forms were incredibly sculptural, and ultimately functional, my analogy would be that these wooden apparatus were much more like bones than letters, resembling some particular skeletal mechanism. Needless to say I was fascinated. I am going to visit the shop when we return to Venice in a few weeks.

After leaving the shop, we went to Peggy Guggenheims house on the Grand Canal. This museum created in her private residence was very impressive. I would suggest it as a destination to anyone interested in art, while visiting Venice. What I liked about it was that some of her original furniture was still in the house, along with the art, and photographs of Peggy in the house as it was when she was there. Peggy is buried in the garden, along with her multitude of dogs (listed as “children”). I could not help but think to myself, standing in front of her grave, that I too would have liked to have lived out my later years in that house as well.

Other Venice highlights that should be included, The Venice Biennale, Titian, Tiepolo, Tintoretto, Da Vinci, The Academy, and getting lost on purpose, which I highly recommend in this city. Tomorrow we board our ship and head out across the Mediterranean Sea to the Dalmatian Coast, and the ancient port of Dubrovnik, Croatia. More from there! At sea the internet is shaky and slow, so for the next few weeks the posts will be at different intervals. As I post this page today, I am doing it from sea, over a marine satellite link, so I have had to reduce the image and video quality, the post is also a week old by now. New post to come about the Greek Islands, stay tuned!