Midwestern Girl in Paris: Venice, Part One

I went on my second AUP Cultural Programs trip to Venice from the 18th-21st of October.

There were only five students on the trip, which was led by Isabelle, an Italian professor at AUP, and her husband, Hall, who tagged along and is a political science professor at AUP. They actually lived in DC for about ten years early on in their marriage, and he's given lectures and such at GW several times, so he and I talked quite a bit over the course of the trip, which was nice.

I LOVED Venice. Absolutely LOVED it. Okay, so it may have helped that we had perfect weather while I was there (65-70 degrees and sunny each day). And the food was incredible. I don't think I can ever have gnocchi again, because of the perfectly pillow-like, marshmallow heaven of a plate of gnocchi I had at this tiny little restaurant hidden away on one of the canals that Isabelle took us to. I had porcini mushrooms with pasta or on a pizza at nearly every meal. They sell Bellini, this delicious peach-flavored champagne, at every restaurant, cafe, and sandwich place like it's pop. I had gelato every day, sometimes more than once. I ate so very, very well that weekend.

The other thing I really liked about Venice is that you traverse the whole city on foot. And you can just wander around for hours past shops and restaurants and the most adorable little canals and never get too terribly far from any place else. There are also signs that point you in the direction of some of the city's most popular places, like the Piazza San Marco, the Rialto, or the Accademia neighborhood. I didn't feel overwhelmed here or even too terribly much like a tourist for some reason. Venice was utterly charming.

The one thing that was kind of freaky was nearly everywhere we went you could see stacks of wood and metal platforms about the same size as your average dining table but perhaps a little bit longer. Isabelle explained that every October/November and January/February the winds change and the "Aqua Alta" occurs in which large parts of the city flood. Once it got closer to the traditional time workers would set up the platforms end to end to form a sort of walkway about two feet high for people to use once the waters rose. I can't even imagine how much damage that does to all of the homes, shops, churches, just...everything! And these people just live with it as part of their reality, year after year! Unbelievable. Fortunately the Aqua Alta held off until after we were there, but you can see some incredible pictures of what it did look like over at the Washington Post.

We took a water taxi from the airport (which is on a separate island away from the main city). After having lunch near the Rialto, we dropped our stuff off at our hotel, which was just a five minute walk from St. Mark's Square (the Piazza San Marco). Our professor took us around there and down along the boardwalk that borders the main waterway out to sea.

The Rialto Bridge. This and the surrounding area used to be the banking center of Venice when the city was in its heyday quite a few centuries ago. Now it's full of tourists and tourist shops.

It does have an amazing view over the Grand Canal, though.

St. Mark's Basilica in the most well-known spot in all of Venice, the Piazza San Marco. We went inside, but unfortunately you're not allowed to take pictures. It's BEAUTIFUL. Inside and out it's all mosaic instead of panel painting or fresco, which I think makes it even more impressive.

The view of the square with my back to the basilica.

The Campanile, which stands immediately to the right of the basilica. It's the bell tower of St. Mark's. While originally completed in 1514, it collapsed in 1902 and was rebuilt by 1912. You can go inside and up to the top if you want, but we did not.

The Torre Dell'Orologio, better known as St. Mark's Clocktower, features a marvel of a timepiece. It was completed in 1499 and was recently restored and still works. It shows not only the time, but also the dominant sign of the Zodiac and the current phase of the moon. Legend goes that the Venetian Senate, who commissioned the clock, had the creators (a father and son team) brought before them after they finished it and blinded them, so that they would be unable to recreate it for any other city. It's unlikely that that's true, but such a clock was still quite an important feat and the city was very proud of it.

The former palace of the Doge (Venice's ruler).

The side of the basilica, with the very beginnings of the Doge's palace on the right.

The view down the canal while standing on the Bridge of Sighs. It was named such because prisoners condemned to death would be led over this bridge on their way to the piazza to be executed. The prison is immediately on either side.

The whole scene. We walked pretty far down through all of the touristy stands and restaurants and actual tourists. It's a pretty cool place.

Random statue along the boardwalk.

Can you tell how the bell tower off in background is leaning to the left? The whole city is full of bits and pieces of buildings where you can tell they are sinking and leaning. It's very disconcerting...