Venice, Part Two

Our second day in Venice began with another water taxi ride. We went over to the island of Murano, famous as being the home of the glass-blowing factories of Venice. The factory we went to gave us a demonstration of how the glass is blown.

This bit of glass at the end of the metal pole eventually became a small vase. The manager of the factory, who was explaining everything to us while this guy did his thing, said it takes about 10-15 years of training and work experience to become a "master" of glass-blowing.

After he finished the vase, the same craftsman took another sizable blob of molten glass and with a pair of oversized pliers, began to sort of pull at various points on the blob. He kept shaping and pulling and molding the glass for only about two or three minutes until it had cooled and voila!

A horse! It was amazing; he made it look so easy! (Which I guess it must be in a way if you've been practicing it for at least 10-15 years!)

They also had this big horse in the main room of the factory fused together out of all sorts of little glass scraps.

Then we got to go upstairs to their showroom...

These are all different sorts of cups, goblets, jugs, and pitchers. Any you see with gold is real 24k gold leaf painted right onto the glass. Just one of the littlest teacups will set you back over 150 euros, easy.

The showroom also had some more sculpture-like creations:

Two of the other students on this trip were a brother and sister who attend AUP but are from Qatar and, as you might imagine, have quite a lot of money. I bought a small bracelet made of glass beads for around 20 euros (it was literally the only thing in the whole showroom I could afford). They, on the other hand, bought a set of six wine glasses and a decanter (dark red with gold leaf and ceramic flower details, modeled on the set the Doge had in his palace many centuries ago), all set on a mirrored crystal tray. 2,400 euros. Casual. I don't even want to think about how much it would cost on top of that to then ship it to Qatar, which is what they did. 

On the way out of the factory I took a few pictures of the displays they had set up along the main hallway:

We traveled back to the main city where we went to the workshop of one of the main mask-makers of Venice. He took us into his workshop and explained the history of the Venetian mask and showed us how he makes all of his masks (mostly out of paper-mache nowadays). He and Isabelle have known each other a long time, which is how we were able to get access to his workshop. It was very interesting to see all of the different styles of masks and how they changed over time. He was very entertaining; you could tell he was so passionate about his craft. 

Afterwards, we went across the canal to his shop, where he dressed us up in masks, hats, and cloaks so we could see and feel what it was like to actually wear these masks.

Reiko and Deidre in my two favorite colors...

Ahmed dressed up as Casanova (who popularized that style of mask).

His sister Amna, who wears not a paper-mache mask, but a delicate gilded mask made out of iron and covered in crystals.

And me, in my red ensemble. I took a look at the price tag on my mask, which was one of the smallest versions that just covers the area around your eyes: 120 euros. 

The outside of his shop.

Some more masks like the one Amna was wearing. I like the lace one in the back with the kitty ears. :)

We then hiked clear to the other side of the city for lunch in the Accademia neighborhood:

The view from the main bridge into Accademia.

The terrace where we ate lunch.

Just down the way from our lunch place was one of the places in the city where they repair gondolas.

In case you missed it two pictures earlier, here's another example of how towers are prone to lean precariously in this city...

We stopped by the Church of the Rosary on our way back to the Piazza San Marco area.

The ceiling was absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, for some reason my camera sometimes doesn't pick up on all of the color when I try to take indoor pictures of paintings like this. But believe me, it was far more breathtaking than this picture conveys.

A rather creepy life-sized Italianized Virgin and Christ child.

The view across the main waterway of one of many churches. I don't know exactly why it is, but there was always a certain level of haze in Venice. In the morning it would seem like plain old fog, but the sun wouldn't burn it away like you would expect. But because there are no cars, there is actually very little air pollution in Venice. And yet...the haze. Odd.

Isabelle then led us to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection on the Grand Canal. This collection of (relatively) modern art was collected by Peggy Guggenheim in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, and is housed in her 18th-century Venetian palazzo. The collection includes works by artists like Jackson Pollack, Picasso, Dali, and Duchamp. We were free to roam the museum by ourselves for about 45 minutes. I finished it in five. I also took no pictures because, well guys, I'll be totally honest here: I don't like this kind of art. I don't care for it, and I don't care about it. Is it important in the ever-evolving space-time continuum that is the realm of art and art history? Of course. I just don't care. 

So I spent most of the time there out in the courtyard since the weather was so beautiful. Peggy Guggenheim is buried there:

She also had one hell of a view of the Grand Canal from her terrace on the opposite side of the house:

Next to Peggy's grave are buried all of the dogs that she had throughout her life:

Who the hell names a dog "Hong Kong"?!?

We then had some time to wander the city and get something to eat by ourselves. Later in the evening we all met up and went to this church to hear a concert of classical music:

I thought I'd have a tough time staying awake, but it was actually really nice! All but one or two of the things they played were by Vivaldi, and it was all upbeat, energetic stuff, which helped quite a bit. And the little orchestra (only about ten musicians) was fantastic. Those guys could really play.