Faded White

I slept much better after turning the thermostat to manual and jacking the temperature up. I also folded the blanket in half to make it thicker. I had the same exact breakfast. I decided that today was time to wear my Under Amour Cold Gear top for the first time since the 19º weather in Korea. It was in the high 30ºs but I would be walking outside all day. I walked across town again to Piazza San Marco to meet up for a walking tour where I learned about Venetian history and architectural symbolism. I didn’t know just how wealthy the Venetians used to be. The couple hundred thousands of people of Venice had ten times more wealth than the millions of people in France at one point. It was really interesting because I had been to the same place the day before with no idea about all the stuff around me but now it was so intense. I didn’t realize just how much detail there was and how much meaning was in the details. The tour guide was talking so fast trying to cram all the info into the short time. She kept pointing out that she was only scratching the surface about everything she was talking about. I didn’t even notice that the statues framing the entrance to the city from the ocean were facing inwards instead of the traditional direction facing out to sea. This symbolized that the heavenly and important city was inside Venice not outside. It was all very interesting but freezing cold standing there outside in the open square listening.

We finally entered St. Mark’s Basilica which was also overwhelming. I’ve been to a lot of churches and cathedrals in my trip to Europe but this was another world. If it was medieval times I probably would have converted upon walking into that building. Sure there was mosaics telling stories outside on the front of the basilica, but inside the entire ceiling of five domes was mosaics. It was not painted frescos like you would see usually on ceilings. Instead it was millions of pieces of colored glass 1cm in size forming allegories and histories constructed over 800 years. It didn’t end there, even the floor had geometric patterns inlaid mosaic style. I guess what impressed me most was how so many different styles were mixed together harmoniously. The North African Muslim moorish influence was clearly visible mixed with Byzantine mixed with Renaissance.

The walking tour continued onto the side streets of San Marco to places I would never have stumbled upon by accident. Then it started snowing! This was a mixed blessing because it looked cool but meant it was really cold and I had difficulty keeping my camera gear dry. After the tour I rushed back across town back to my hotel to pick up my other memory card and extra battery for my camera because I feared that the cold was going to kill the batteries faster than expected. So I did that and then had to rush all the way back across town for my Grand Canal motor boat tour that I had booked as part of the package with the walking tour. I arrived to the meeting point and waited but nobody showed up. I’m assuming it got cancelled due to the weather as it was snowstorming too hard for even the gondoliers to work and they are quintessential figures of Venice. Sigh. Now I’ll have to go through the trouble of getting part of the package refunded. By this point I was also starving as it was 3pm.

I ate pizza for lunch at a restaurant. A better pizza than the fast food snack bar yesterday. Prosciutto, artichoke, and mushroom which I paired with a cappuccino. Afterwards I headed for the mask store again to buy some masks. It took a while and it didn’t help that it was dark at 4pm and cold but I eventually found it. What made it hard to find was that it is located in a non-touristy area. Why did I go to this particular store when there are a million other places selling masks? Part of it was that it was located away from the tourist shops and I could see the masks being made. They probably don’t get a lot of sales directly because of their location, but I assume that they make some of the masks being sold at tourist shops. I purchased two masks of different styles. There were some that I wanted to buy with flourishes like feathers but I would have never been able to transport them home. Then it was another arduous journey to get from the store back to the hotel.

I try to eat the food of a region when I go someplace so for dinner tonight I had for my Venetian meal. Antipasto was sarde en saor, marinated sardines with onionsl, pinenuts, and raisins. It was interesting but not unpleasant. Very light in flavor a little sweet balanced with a little sour. I followed this with cuttlefish in a sauce made from its own ink served with white grilled polenta. I added a side of mixed grilled vegetables to balance the meal a bit. It was a pretty satisfying meal and I was stuffed, but wanted to try tiramisu in Italy. I was thwarted though as they had already run out for the night.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 25th, 2005 at 4:21 am and is filed under Wanderlust. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.