Thus we shifted gears a bit and decided to get a 24 hour Vaporetto (water bus) pass. Dylan really wanted to check out San Giorgio as the façade (and possibly interior) are by Palladio. It's just across the water from San Marco Square so we thought it would be a quick boat ride, but we managed to get on the boat going the opposite direction. This turned out to be a pleasant mistake, though, as we took the hour long "scenic route" to San Giorgio which wound up the Grand Canal and out around west of Venice before coming to the port that was five minutes from where we started.
View of where we started (San Marco Square) from where we were going (San Giorgio) - i.e. not a one hour trip
Santa Maria della Salute
Rialto Bridge
Ca d'Oro
Fondaco dei Turchi - old Turkish traders' warehouse turned Natural History Museum
I forgot how much I enjoy being on the water, relaxing to the motion of the boat and letting the slight headwind tease through my hair and keep me cooled off despite the summer heat. It also seemed like a pretty efficient way to see some of the main sights of Venice as many prominent buildings were on the old trading canal. I really should have expected as much, but I was shocked at how many boats were squeezing past each other and slipping through open spaces; it really was like a busy highway on water, even if the pictures don't portray that. After the trip out, which threatened to lull me into a little cat nap, we took a moment to admire Palladio's innovative façade which he adapted from that of a classical temple to one of a Christian church. When we walked into San Giorgio, the first thing I noticed was a large pipe emerging from the center of the dome. Maintenance?
Likely not. Near the entrance, though, there was a table set up with postcards, really large booklets, and an explanatory sign. This was part of the Venice Biennale, a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place every two years, on odd years. This vent is part of an exhibition called "Ascension" by Anish Kapoor and is "a site-specific installation that materializes the paradox of the column of smoke: a vortex of white smoke rises from a circular base placed at the intersection between the transept and the nave of the magnificent Basilica of San Giorgio Maggiore..." We also read that there were demonstrations of this exhibition on Wednesdays, among other days, and it would be in about an hour. Perhaps worth lingering for. Dylan had also heard that the campanile offered one of the best views of Venice, so we wanted to climb that, but the guard was out to lunch. Thus we admired the basilica, the choir stalls in particular, which were carved in walnut by Flemish artist Albert van den Brulle in 1598, before also going to see what we could find on the tiny island for lunch.
After lunch we still had some time to spare before the bell tower opened again and the Ascension exhibition, so we wandered around the island a little and discovered a tapestry museum which also happened to have free entrance that day. It was surprisingly extensive with things woven as early as the 15th century to some that were woven just a few years ago.
The Siege of Jerusalem, c. 1480
Mappa, 1978
Above the road east toward Taibique, El Hierro. 15 minutes. 2002
We then went back to San Giorgio expecting to see this Ascension in full swing, but nothing was happening. A few people seemed to be waiting around expectantly, but no one knew anything useful. So we went to go up the campanile and the guard informed us that there was no ascension today because they were doing work on it. Shame. It would have looked something like this:
But the view from the bell tower certainly still made the trip over worthwhile.
We then decided to go out to Murano Island and see if we could watch some glass blowing. After analyzing the map I decided that the first port would get us closest to the Museo Vetrario, the antique glass museum, where I figured they might be able to point us in the right direction or perhaps have a demonstration there. As soon as we got off the boat a man came up and asked if we were there to see live glass blowing and directed us to a nearby building. Perfect! I've always wanted to see glass blown in person. The gaffer was going to do two demonstrations: first, a vase which he blew
And, even more fascinating, not that I'm biased or anything, he then made a horse using a different technique where he had a solid glob of molten glass and literally pulled the horse into being out of the glob with tongs, not ever blowing into it. As he shaped limbs the main body of the glass kept shifting and sagging so he had to almost constantly spin the rod to keep the center balanced.
We were of course then ushered into their shop where I was tempted by the neatest horse, clear with a transparent red core with gold flecks around the outside of the core and streaks of gold in the mane and tail. As I was contemplating him one of the shop keepers came up and started trying to sell me on it. After a while of conversing with him and discussing the merits of buying a piece of art that I would have for life, he took me upstairs to the real gallery. Rather than looking at something that was about two hands (for you horse people, no pun intended) tall, he now had me looking at a horse that was about as big as my laptop screen. And that was one of the smallest items in there. We went back and forth for a long time and I really had zero intention of buying as 1) I liked the coloring and movement of the horse downstairs better and 2) I didn't have €2,600 to spare. However he was telling me all sorts of fascinating information about the glass blowing process, so I admit to egging him on a bit and seemingly considering. He finally even brought the price down to 40% of the original price plus offered to ship it home for me for free. He really was not prepared to take "no" for an answer, but I finally made it clear to him that even if I decided to buy it I at least wanted to think about it overnight. That appeased him just enough so we bid our adieus. It was tempting, but as we boarded the boat back to Venice we stopped at the other little ports on Murano and along the way we saw at least five other furnaces that advertised live glass blowing, and those were just the ones right on the water. I realized that we hadn't gone to The Glass Blowing Demonstration but simply a live glass blowing. I decided if I wanted to make a purchase that significant then at the very least I would want to spend the day on the island and go through all the shops and see all of my options. And right then I wasn't really dying to make a purchase that significant. It also made me wonder, if after half an hour of talking to this guy he was willing to sell the horse at 60% off, how much was it really worth? I always have trouble determining such things. So back to Venice we cruised.
It was starting to get on in the evening by the time we got back and Dylan and I were both eager to take a gander in that little fountain pen shop we'd seen the night before, so with fingers crossed that it was still open we headed towards my big X on the map. Lo and behold, success! After much debating and comparing of pens, both glass and wooden, I ended up with two wooden Bortoletti ones, one of which I had in mind as a gift, a stick of wax to seal letters, and two stamps, one with my initials (only BW, not BMW, sadly) and one with a horse - I'm a sucker, I know. There was also a pad of gold that the shop owner used to accent the seals, highlighting the letters/horse, and though he was sold out of those he thought he might get more on the morrow. We left, satisfied, to go get dinner at a great pizza place in a square a little north of where we were staying, then called it a night after wandering around a while longer.
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