A City Called Venice

9-12-2008

We boared the bus at 8:00 this morning and left at 8:15 for the tourist conquered city of Venice. Bad morning. We arrived in Venice a hour later than we wanted due to a city official that wouldn’t give clearance to our bus driver unless we had a beautiful woman to go to the counter with him...which sadly enough is a common theme throughout our day in Venice.

Because we were late, we got a quick half hour tour with our guide and all any of us could think throughout the tour was, “it’s way too hot here,” and it truly was, somewhere near 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

After the short tour we journey to La Rialto, a popular shopping plaza. While there, my buddy Mike was walking behind me and suddenly I hear him shout ridiculous amount of Spanish at a very rapid rate.  I turn around to see him hugging a Mexican friend of his that just so happen to be in town for an architecture exhibit in which he was presenting. His name was Jorje. He came with our group to a quaint little Jazz pizzeria where according to the sign they would have live jazz.  If by live they meant recorded jazz that was live in the 1930’s, then the sign was not false advertizing. With a Fanta to wash it down, we all sampled some of the best pizza we’ve ever eaten. I had a pizza with hamon, which was the most flavorful ham I’ve ever eaten. The fat was woven in with the meat making it all the more flavorful. I could just picture a happy little piggy running around the Italian country side. Making my meal all the more delicious.

We saw what was to see all around Venice, ate some Gelato, and eventually took a gondola ride. While it was a touch pricy, €150, it was worth it to see Venice from their water streets. Our driver was great as he pointed out great things to see and was very talkative. He even went to Vegas and showed those fake gondoliers at the Venecian how it’s done for real.

A storm rolled just as we finished our ride through the narrow waterways for Venice. As the thunder rolled and lightening lit up the sky, we stopped into the many blown glass art and masquerade shops. One of my favorite glass art pieces was a full mini orchestra complete with little spectators.

Before too long, the storm let up and we took another look around the city. Jenny and I made it up to the second floor of St. Marco’s Cathedral and got a great view of the port. As we waited for our boat bus, a few of the girls bought some knock-off purses from guys on the street.

On the bus ride back, I stenciled a bomb garden scene with the group leader’s daughter Mya. I should be an art major.