VENICE

We woke up early the next morning in Ferrara to catch the train to Venice, but a few of us were feeling a little “under the weather” from the previous night (as can be seen in the picture of Olen at breakfast). While I was eating breakfast I found a few souvenirs in my pocket from the last bar we went to- in Italy most bars serve complimentary peanuts, chips and appetizers all night long for the hungry bar goers. As one of the bars was closing I managed to take a handful of peanuts for our long walk home and apparently I had forgotten about them…

We returned our bikes to the rental shop and attempted to explain (in Italian) why some bikes had bent wheels, missing fenders and broken baskets At least no one noticed the flat spots on my rear tire…

At the train station the fog was mysterious and calming. When trains in transit came tearing through the station, they did not appear until the last second before breaking through the thick wall of fog.

During the train ride it was difficult to see any of the landscape because the fog created a white wall outside the train window. As we unloaded off the train we were faced with Venice’s famous Grand Canal right at our feet. The sight was a surreal experience seeing the boats and people faintly move in the background. Most places we visit we are required to find our own hotels or hostels during our stay. Someone in our group had arranged for a few of us to stay in a cheap hotel somewhere within the historic center of Venice. Once we stumbled upon our hotel, we were thrilled to find out that it was right on the edge of the Grand Canal, giving us an amazing view outside our window. Not bad for a 2-start hotel!

Once we were settled in our room we hoped on a Vaparetto (water Taxi) to take us to Piazza San Marco to meet our professor for another day of lectures. We managed to get on the long boat to China that took us the wrong way around Venice, allowing us to see the industrial area and an amazing view of the Sea.

Piazza San Marco is home to a million nasty pigeons and became cheap entertainment for a few minutes and a good chance to take some humorous pictures. We seemed to be entertained by some of the simplest things- bicycles and pigeons- maybe we haven’t grown up yet- and maybe we never will.

I think my favorite part about my architectural studies here in Italy has been the interaction with random tourists and onlookers. Whenever we stop to sketch a building there is usually no convenient places to sit, so it is easy to identify an architecture student when they are sitting in the middle of a busy piazza or leaning against a random object with their nose buried inside a sketchbook. Many times I will look up from my drawing and find that I have a crowd behind me looking over my shoulder, or attempting to figure out why I am drawing. I always laugh when people will pass in front of me, notice that I am drawing, turn around and take a picture of the building because they think it is probably an important piece of architecture. The funny thing is that most of the time I am sketching the façade of an architecturally signigant building, but sometimes I am drawing people or something in the distance and they end up taking a picture of something completely irrelevant. A few times people have stopped to take a picture of me sitting randomly in a piazza and a few times I have become part of a picture because I will be sitting directly in front of a statue or building and am too busy to even notice.

While we were in Piazza San Marco in Venice, our professor was lecturing to us about the Olivetti Shop designed by Carlo Scarpa, which was an old typewriter shop that is architecturally significant, but would have no meaning to anyone else just passing by. While we were all standing there taking pictures and sketching the door details, people started gathering around us and were trying to squeeze in to take pictures of the things in the window. Not until my professor explained to a large group of tourist what we were looking at, did they understand what they were taking pictures of….

A day spent in Piazza San Marco analyzing capital orders and proportions was overwhelming and cold…

That night a group of us went out to a nice restaurant that was recommended by a woman at the hotel. She called her friend, who is a cook at the restaurant and asked him if he could give us a good deal on dinner… “He will give you ‘Nice Price’ for dinner”- I think we have heard that one before. Well we got to the restaurant and the understanding was that we would get a ‘nice price’ if we all had the same items for dinner- no problem- so the courses started coming out. Five courses later, we were wondering what ‘nice price’ really meant and we were hoping we would get the check before he brought out any more food. The dinner turned out to be a great deal- Bruschetta, Salad, Pasta, Fresh Fish, Desert and Wine for only 15 euro each. Normally the main course costs 15 euros by itself! We were all relieved to get a great dinner at a “nice price!”

That night we walked around Venice and I was able to get some amazing pictures of Piazza San Marco at night and in the fog. I also passed by the Rialto Bridge and wasn’t sure whether I was in Vegas or still in Venice. Some of the architectural wonders of the world have been rebuilt even today- such as the Rialto Bridge at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. There is something funny about the relationship between the two completely different places that share a similar atmosphere and the same architectural language…

One difficulty I have had to become patient with is sharing a hotel room with 3 guys, having only one key to get inside and no cell phone to get in touch with anybody. After dinner and exploring I realized that I had no idea how to get back to my hotel, no map, no cell phone and no key- and neither of my roommates had a phone either. One of my friends who was staying in another hotel said I could sleep on their floor for the night- it was a long night on the floor while I dreamed of my empty bed that I was paying for but no way to get to it. Some of you may be wondering why I didn’t go to the Hotel Lobby and just knock on my own hotel door. Well, hotels in Italy are much different than any I had ever stayed in before. When we checked in during the day we stopped in an office to pick up our key and pay for the room, but the hotel was actually a few blocks away. Once we received our keys we were led to a locked door that led to a staircase, which led to our hotel room. So without a key I was SOL. I got up extremely early the next morning in order to give me enough time to find my hotel, wait for someone to let me in and get ready before class started. On my walk to my real hotel I really enjoyed seeing the city in motion- people making deliveries on carts, butchers carrying giant pork thighs, fruit stands being set up and boats making their rounds around the city. Since there are no cars, the city operates much differently than most. It was an incredible sight, but it explains why Venice is incredibly expensive- the process is ridiculously inefficient and slow. A man pulling a cart filled with merchandise would have to pull it up and over the many stair cases that bridged the small waterways along the way to his destination- I know I would charge a lot to do this job everyday!

Today we met at Querini Stampalia, a museum designed by Carlo Scarpa, which now is a museum dedicated to his work. Many of the places we have visited do not allow pictures inside the building, and now they live on in my sketch book as small reminders of what I have seen.

Later we took the Vaparetto to see two churches designed by Andrea Palladio, San Giorgio Maggiore, and Il Redentore. Not much to say about our visits to these churches- Palladio is still very influential on Neo-Classical architects today and sets an example for the importance of correctly proportioned spaces. His designs are based on the golden section and Fibonacci series relationships- woo hoo! They were extremely important to the architectural history of Venice and now stand as the icon of Palladian design. Currently Venice is preserved in the same state in which it existed at the end of the 16^th century and only one building has been built since 1950, when a palazzo collapsed and a new one was built. I got into a long discussion with my professor about the future of Venice and whether new development will ever take place. As a historian she believes that it should stay the way it is, and I, as an architect, believe that over time cities should evolve and change. We discussed that many of the palazzos are being purchased by wealthy families for use as their vacation homes. Since Venice is an island they are suffering from depopulation because there are fewer and fewer people who currently live in the city. Venice has become a theme park for tourists- it is not being operated in a way to serve the needs of everyday residents, but only to accommodate the needs of visitors. I think this is an interesting comparison of real Venice and Vegas Venice… I said I wouldn’t talk too much about this so I will move on. I thought I would leave a few thoughts on architecture and urban development since this is what I am here studying.

The rest of the day we spent dodging the rain and doing a few watercolor paintings inside our hotel. Since the humidity was at 100% it was impossible to paint outside because the water wouldn’t dry, so we went inside. After sharing some cheese and bread over a bottle of wine with a few friends it was nice to go to sleep in my own bed since we had to get up early the next morning for our next trip to Vicenza.