Italy, part four

Looking at these pictures, I wish I had taken more food shots. I think at restaurants I was trying hard not to look so touristy. Also trying to enjoy myself. Taking a picture of everything you eat kind of kills, you know, eating. It also kills remembering. This section covers Verona, Venice and Burano. Verona is the town/city where Shakespeare set Romeo & Juliet. There was a rather large amphitheater in the middle of it, pretty well preserved. I think they still did shows there. Lots of shops, lots of restaurants. My brother declared it “his favorite place,” probably because it was so livable, suburban, with this really high-class shopping center in the middle of it.

The big attraction in Verona is Juliet’s balcony, prominently featured in the movie Letters to Juliet. It was a fake, obviously. But lots of people went there anyway.

The walls were covered with graffiti and chewing gum.

And there is the balcony. You know it’s fake because there’s no way Romeo could climb up there and kiss her. If you’re going to make a fake you could at least do a better job.

People would hook locks onto the iron gate and throw away the key. You can see the statue of Juliet in the bottom right square. Yawn.

After Verona we went to Venice.

This was the hotel we stayed in. I think now would be a good time to mention I was completely bored by Venice and generally wanted to be somewhere else. Like the Italian countryside. This was also the 6th and 7th (ish) days of the trip so maybe I was just tired overall.

The lobby of our hotel opened up.

This was our hotel room, which I declared that I hated. It was musty. Hot. The air needed to be turned on. The ceiling looked warped. I could tell my grandma was silently judging me for my declaration. I’m sure she thought I was some spoiled rich kid going all the way to Europe and hating hotel rooms. When she was my age…

Even our lighting was creepy and old. I was missing how everything in America is brand new. I was tired as well.

Instead of resting, 30 minutes after we hit the hotel we went on a gondola ride! Excitement from all quarters!

Some guy serenaded us while we rowed.

It was a beautiful day, and warm, and I was exhausted, and with the guy singing these cheesy Italian songs I couldn’t help but feel like I was riding It’s a Small World.

It’s a small small world…

It’s a small world after all…

It’s a small world after all…

Then I started watching everyone watching us. We were like celebrities. Look at those tourists riding gondolas! Quick Bill, get a picture! It’s so Venetian!

Even the Italians were camping out beside the canal watching us ride gondolas. It’s so Venetian. (These guys were literally three feet away.)

Holy crap, look at that. Gondolas.

We rested for a bit and had our tour of Venice. St. Mark’s Square. This is St. Mark’s Basilica, where they had the body of, wait for it, St. Mark. This is if you believe the story that two merchant mercenaries went all the way to Alexandria and stole Mark’s bones so they could have an apostle in Venice like Rome had Peter — if you believe they actually stole Mark’s bones instead of finding another set of perfectly-fine, garden-variety bones which were less guarded. If you believe that, I saw St. Mark’s tomb. But the gold artwork was nice.

Unfortunately there were pigeons everywhere. (Not my picture.)

The following isn’t my picture either. It’s to show you how St. Mark’s cathedral really blends Byzantine architecture with classical. It’s very interesting. Venice was the trade gateway to the East, hence the influence. Notice how the lower part of the church is dark and the upper is full of gold, to demonstrate the glory of the divine. Tons of Biblical narratives are pictured on the ceiling.

(Not mine.)

Then we went on to the Doges Palace, which was where the ruler of Venice lived. You can see it below. Mostly I took this picture because the girl in the orange skirt reminded me of Kayla. Doing things like this really makes me feel like a lesbian. It’s great. Also, notice how much I was enjoying Venice.

Our tour guide was insisting the art in the Doges palace was superior to Michelangelo because of its use of color. Hilarious. Nothing in the Doges palace was superior to Michelangelo in any way. She said the clothing looked good in the paintings. Yes, but come on.

Yeah man, that’s so much better than Michelangelo. (Click to enlarge.)

Enough of that. The next day we took a boat to another one of the islands. Burano. It’s one of the [admittedly many] places where Hemingway liked to write. See how the tower is falling over? Everything in Venice was sinking. That’s all fine with me.

Burano was one of my favorite places. We had some great seafood and pasta and enjoyed the peace and quiet. After lunch we had an hour to shop around, but my brother and I decided all we wanted in the world was to take a nap.

There was never some designated place — “Hemingway wrote here” — so I picked one. In the spirit of Juliet’s balcony and St. Mark’s body, you know.

This was our view while taking breaks from taking a nap.

The water was nice.

This was our view while taking the nap.

I mean, this.

All in all, I didn’t like Venice. I was anxious to go back to Rome and see historical stuff, less touristy stuff. Also having a nicer hotel. Venice was like a theme park, but one where everything is expensive and everyone’s snotty to you despite their whole economy depending on your presence. We were almost pooped on a few times. And not just by pigeons. I took this picture to remember it by…

But maybe I should have gotten lost. They say you need to get lost to truly experience Venice. (They tell you this after the gondola.) The city had a few beautiful nooks like this one.

Last installment will come soon. Pompeii! Actually that’s a half-lie. More on that then.