Save Tonight

From one Venice to another... funny how life works.
I have to admit; of all the places I visited, Venice is in the top five. There's something so magical about being surrounded by canals without a single whisper of a car or scooter. Nighttime's my favorite because of all the reflections of light along the canals. The whole city is completely walkable too, which is an added bonus. But of course, if you're tired, there's public transportation (called the Vaporetto) in the form of boats! A truly romantic, fascinating (albeit touristy/fake) city. On to my visit!

By the time we arrived in Venice by train from Rome, it was already 5pm. All 22 of us (20 students, 2 professors) hopped on a Vaporetto towards Ca'd'Oro and made our way towards the hotel (Hotel Bernardi's). As we all waited in the alleyway, we saw a couple of our friends from the Montpellier study abroad group pop their heads out of the windows. Yes, the 22 of us plus the 24 of them would all be together until the end of our trip.

Once we checked in, Jeri, Sarah, and I were on a hunt to find our friends from the France group. Unfortunately, the France group was split between two buildings owned by the hotel, and all the people we love were in the other building. We followed a map that was in the hotel lobby and managed to find the building... but we didn't know how to get in or contact them. We stood there like idiots for a few minutes, occasionally calling out some names. Then, as I turned the corner of the building, I saw Taylor and Tyler come out from the door, and I screamed and ran/jumped into Taylor's arms. That's some shit you see in movies... but after spending 2.75 months with the same people in Berlin (I was reaching the end of my rope), it was such a relief to finally be with new people, especially some of my best friends.

The three of us followed the two boys as they went in search for some alcohol. When we returned, Tyler entered the hotel room first (where the rest of our French group friends were), and introduced us with "we got a surprise for you guys..." Cue lots of girls screaming and hugging. At last, we were reunited. Bottles of champagne were popped and drinks were shared as we quickly caught up.

Eventually we made our way out to dinner as a group of 13. We somehow managed to find a restaurant that could seat all of us outside, and we just binged on pizzas and pastas and lots of wine. At the end of our dinner, more Berlin/Montpellier students found us and our group just expanded. We ended up getting gelato (naturally) and spending most of our time outside in a random square. There were lots of stories being shared, games being played, ridiculous photos being taken... definitely one of the best nights of the trip for me.

The next morning, we were up and out by 8:30am. The first thing we did? Take a gondola for 50 Euro cents to cross the canal! The ride only lasted maybe a minute and the gondolier didn't serenade us, but still nice to experience the gondola in addition to the Vaporetto.

First destination to analyze and sketch: Piazza San Stefano. It was much like all the other squares we saw in Rome, but there was definitely a hierarchy among spaces. For instance, two facades of one building conveyed a completely different language depending on what it was facing. I didn't find anything too significant so I don't remember a lot about it.

Our next stop was Andrea Palladio's Church of San Giorgio Maggiore. What's special about this church is the facade. For a Christian church, Palladio used the form of a classic temple. The facade contains two pediments: the larger covering the side aisles, the smaller covering the area of the nave. As for the interior, the only thing I distinctly remember is the way he played with perspective using the floor tiles. We were fortunate enough to go up to the cupola and see a view of Venice from a high point. From the top, you can clearly see the canals and how the whole city works.

After a brief lunch break (more pizza sandwiches and gelato for me), we went and checked out Piazza San Marco, the most famous square in Venice. Before entering, we spent some time in the Piazzetta di San Marco (the square next to the canal). We discussed the two enormous columns that acted as a gate into Venice as well as the facade of the Doge's palace. Finally we mustered up the strength to break through the crowds and get to Piazza San Marco. The area was packed with tourists and all sorts of vendors. Initially we were supposed to sketch and analyze the space, but it was just too hectic. Children were running around chasing large flocks of pigeons (flying rats) while vendors were coming up to strangers and selling who knows what and other tourists are asking you to take their picture with all the chaos that's happening. It was just too much. Instead, we just admired the Basilica and Campanile.

From there, we made our way to Campo S.S. Giovanni e Paolo, our last stop of the day. Of course, we sketched and analyzed again, but this was probably my favorite space in Venice. The shape is actually a backwards L, and because of that, it creates two very distinct spaces. One space, along the canal, belongs to the church, and the other belongs to the neighborhood. Then there's a statue that's placed just between the two spaces to connect them.

We actually got to go into the church and check out the interior. I was more impressed with this church than I was with Palladio's. The rib vaulting was beautiful and so was the apse. What's also funny is that Jeri had to wrap a red sheet around her legs because her shorts were too short. It was like The Scarlet Letter and she was Hester Prynne.











When we finished inside the church, we went back outside to sketch. While I sat and sketched, I saw some kid catch one of the several pigeons in the square. First I was impressed, but then I was a bit disgusted. Those birds are filthy. Anyways, we were done for the day, so a few of us sat down at a cafe and drank macchiatos as we sketched. How very Italian, don't you think?

When we finished our coffees and the boys finished their cigars, we headed back to the hotel, making several pit stops at stores. We rested up for a bit, and then the usual five of us (Sarah, Jeri, Kemal, Erblin, and I) went in search of dinner. Along the way, we ran into Doug and Jake, who were also looking for food, so they tagged along with us. We ended up finding this off-the-road little restaurant that made delicious, authentic Italian food. I ordered a meal for 13 Euros that included grilled vegetables, pasta with cuttlefish ink, and pork covered with gravy. I also ordered a drink called spritz, which is a mixture of Prosecco, some bitters, and sparkling water, and tiramisu for dessert. It was all good. I felt bad though because Kemal ordered the same 13 Euro deal, but we didn't realize that it would be pork (it was called scallopini so we assumed it was scallops...) and Kemal can't eat pork because he's Muslim; he ended up taking a bite before I did and making that realization. Eeek. We didn't know!

After dinner, Jeri, Sarah, and I tried to hang out with our Frenchies, but they were already asleep at 10:30pm! So instead, Jeri and I hung out with some of our boys outside. We ended up just talking, drinking wine in the square next to our hotel. It was another fun night with good people.

In the morning, we visited an old Venetian palace that was now a museum. Beautiful architecture and tile work. The view wasn't half bad either... I don't remember much about the art, but I do remember that they had some nice sculptures.

From the palace, we took the gondola again to cross the canal. In the area where we get off the gondola is a market; they sold the freshest fruits I've ever smelled. A lot of people bought strawberries and shared with the class. They were perfectly sweet.

Our next stop was the Querini Stampalia Museum which was renovated by Carlo Scarpa. The entrance was done by Mario Botta, which I should've guessed because the stairs reminded me of SFMoMA. The part renovated by Scarpa was the ground floor and the garden area. He also built a bridge on the exterior. I'm a huge fan of Scarpa because of his attention to details. Every door frame, joint, opening--they're all uniquely Scarpa. My favorite aspect is that he brought the water of the canal into the building. Whenever the water level rises, it fills in the lower part of the ground floor, creating this moat-like boundary around the walkable area.
The rest of the museum was great too (no photos, of course) but the highlight was definitely the architecture.

We had a couple hours of free time so the first thing we did was find lunch. We found a pizza shop and I got some random pie-esque thing with prosciutto and mozzarella. So good. From there, we did some shopping as we walked back to the hotel. I had to rest my legs (specifically my knees) so we took a quick break before going out again. We decided to head straight to our meeting point and spend the rest of our free time there.

The area we ended up in was definitely not the touristy part. There were lots of residential buildings around and a large green space, which everybody took full advantage of. We all got gelati, and I got a cafe latte to help me get through the next part of the day.

In the late afternoon, all of us (and by all, I mean the entire Berlin and Montpellier group) met up to go listen to a lecture. I forget the name of the lecturer, but he's a professor at the local university. He talked to us about the Venice we see versus the Venice he knows. He claimed that Venice is very fake (which I can agree with) and how it's just overrun by tourists. He has a point... The lecture was very good, and I even managed to stay awake through all of it (a true triumph).

After the lecture, a small group of us Berliners went in search of dinner. We walked along the canal and found ourselves in the area of San Marco. I wanted to stay in the area to take night photos, but half of the group wanted to go to the restaurant we were at the night before, so we split up and I ended up with Sarah and Kemal. The first thing I was looking for was a mask. Souvenir shops were closing and I didn't want to leave Venice without buying a mask, so I was panicking a bit. I had found the perfect one earlier in the day, but it was scuffed in the corner, so I didn't buy it. I finally found one that was close enough to perfect, so then we continued our search for food. We didn't want to stay around San Marco because prices would be sky high, so we kept ducking into little side streets and found a small restaurant. I ordered calamari while Kemal and Sarah both ordered pizzas. It wasn't the best Italian food, but it was still decent.

When we finished dinner, we walked over to Piazza San Marco and took some night pictures. I was expecting the Basilica and Campanile to be lit more than they were, so that was a little disappointing. It was a beautiful night though so I can't complain. We decided to walk back to the hotel instead of waiting for the Vaporetto. Of course, with so many little alleyways and bridges, we found ourselves going around in loops for a little while.

I had a quiet night in and watched a movie. The next morning, we briefly passed by Santiago Calatrava's new bridge as we were on the Vaporetto and on a bus to our next destination.