Saving the best for last; Venezia

Venice at dawn; there is a transient beauty as the world awakes around this sleepy island. Of all the cities that we have visited in our travels through Italy, there has been no other place as beautiful, romantic and timeless as the narrow alleys and vast waterways of Venice. The streets were thronged with revelers from all over the world; it is the week of the Carnavale, an annual festivity which leads up to Mardi gras and Ash Wednesday. The air was rich with an air of expectancy, street performances at every corner, street parties every night.

Venice is a composite of a main island and many islets and there are only 2 modes of transport around the island: you can either take the ferry services that ply the Grand Canal, which is really expensive by the way, or like us, choose to explore Venice on foot. Taking the ferry costs 5 euros for a single trip, or you can purchase the all day pass for 12 euros. Venice isn’t all that big really, so walking is not a problem. The only issue that you might have is the difficulty in navigating the streets; there are so many small alleys, twists and turns that take you to unexpected places, and there are almost no free maps. In fact, Venice in some respects is very much like home; nothing is free.

We arrived here from what must have been the most depressing and melancholy Milan ever. The train ride into Venice was terrible. At Milan Centrale station, the train was overbooked and there were people spilling out of the corridors, crammed up against the doors. Unfortunately we were one of those people. With my huge lump of a backpack and another huge bag of chips, we ended up standing outside the train toilet for over and hour of a three hour journey. Regional trains have the worst toilets ever. I cannot even begin to describe the atrocity of it. Oh for your general info, there’s a reason why one is not allowed to use the train toilet when it is has stopped at stations. The toilets do not have septic tanks; the waste product goes from bowl to train track in one fell swoop. Or rather, in one large plop onto the train tracks; the onomatopoeic appropriateness of it is a better descriptor of the action. Thankfully many commuters got off at Brescia, there were still no seats but this conductor came up to us and told us to go up to the first class carriage. Haha! Good things come to those who wait; there is a God after all.

There were street performances everyday in the different Piazzas (squares). This was at the P. San Bartolomeo

And this was at the Piazza San Marco

It was entertaining, despite it being completely in Italian. Actually, after almost two weeks in the country, I have begun to pick up several useful phrases. And Italian is indeed a really fun language to speak and have fun with. There is a delightful rhythm to it and it is very much like French. Just add an A, E, I or O to the end of the same word in French, pronounce the word with an Italian accent and their phonetic equivalent and voila, Italiano! No kidding. For example, Bonjour is Bonjourno, excellent/ excellente, quand/quanda ; even the swear words work the same way : merde/ merda, putain, puta. I rest my case. Such a delight in trying the different permutations and speaking to the locals in an absolutely bastardised version of their tongue. Haha. And well, it was really fun to try and speak their language; or in fact ended up speaking English with an Italian accent. Love it. Can’t wait to go Spain and Germany; another linguistic adventure just waiting to be embarked on.

The place where we stayed was known as the B&B Rota. Not too bad a place, the location was great, just on the next street to the fresh fish market and near the busiest commercial area, the Ponte Rialto, which also so happens to be the oldest bridge in Venice.

One of the greatest attractions and must buys in Venice are their masks. You can get them almost everywhere. Almost every shop carries these masks; prices start from about 2 euros for the small palm sized ones. Price however, is a good indicator of quality. There are the mass produced ones which generally cost up to 15-30 euros and they are usually made from plaster or ceramic. The really good ones however cost upwards of 45 euros and they are hand made pieces by artisans and they are made from paper marche. We went into this atelier, which are the workshops where these hand made pieces are made, and the minute I entered, my breath was simply taken away. The masks were all so pretty. So so so pretty. And expensive. A simple piece costs 45 euros and others can cost up to 300 euros. The most expensive piece I saw was like almost 800 euros. And there were others even more elaborate and bien sur, more expensive. But they were absolutely beautiful. Was not allowed to take pictures of them but trust me on this. Bought some masks from this particular atelier, the Venexia, and the man who made the masks was there in person attending to the store. If you are to go to Venice, go to this shop to purchase your masks…he gave me a 20% discount, haha, so am doing a little plug for his shop. Won’t reveal how much I spent there; some people might hit the roof. But I spent quite a bit. No regrets though…if you come to my room when I’m back in Singapore, you’ll see why. =)

One area that you cannot miss is the Piazza San Marco. It is where the Palazzo Ducale (Doge’s Palace) and the Cathedrale San Marco is. The Doge was, until the early 20^th century, the ruler of the Venetian Republic, which was once upon a time a great power, both on sea and land, in Europe. Venice has always been a commercial power in Europe, however, militarily, it is of great significance as well. I’m not too good a history buff but I believe that its rise as a military force was in the 16^th century and lasted till the 18^th. Consider the strategic value of Venice and its almost impregnable defenses; the only viable way of assault of Venice is through the sea and its navel ships were the best in the region, providing safe waters for its lucrative merchant fleets. Thus San Marco square is a must see. It doesn’t hurt to know that Saint Mark is the patron saint of Venice and Marco Polo is also a highly revered Venetian (I think) on the island.

Here is a picture of the Cathedrale.

The golden staircase of the Palazzo Ducale

And of the piazza

This was taken at night on the first night which we explored the island. As part of the Carnavale, there were band performances every night at the piazzo.

A picture of the jazz band playing on stage; they were quite good, the music was fun. And there were like couples just dancing in the square to the music, despite the cold and chill. Intoxicating moments of spontaneity; would have so liked to just jump in and join the rhythm of the night, but no dance partner…mmm…oh well.

Ah yes, here’s a really interesting aspect of the carnavale; there were people all dressed up in costumes, from the elaborate to the mundane. Some were tourists getting in the mood of the carnival and wearing masks walking around, but there were groups of professional masqueraders. And by professional, I mean they were like models, modeling the latest in masquerade wear. Check out the photos that we caught of them.

It was like, wow. The costumes were so elaborate and beautiful. And they were walking all around the square just posing for people to take photos of them. Oblige them we did; they were swamped with attention like bees to honey. These were like the professionals. There is another group of people, largely tourists, who come to the carnival and dress up. Some of these people have their own costumes while others rent them just to play dress up, indulging in a fantasy of make-believe and masquerade. Renting a costume costs 120 to 180 euros, a day. Not for poor students but for people with money to splash. It was really fun though; perhaps one day in years to come, will go back to Venice and dress up. As what…heh…well…dunno.

As part of the spirit of the carnival, we decided to get our face painted. It was done outside the Palazzo Ducale and costs 5 euros. Gave the artist freedom of expression to do anything he wanted

Mmm…well it came out looking like this…

Heh…a bit gay…he used so many colours and drew like a flower…haha…claimed it was a dragon. Yah right, a gay dragon maybe. But I did kindda like it. Hmm…

These were the guys who painted our faces. Really talented, the lot of them. And for 5 euros, well, it was pretty fun. We went to the museum with the face paint on…got stared up as if we were “kui” but the others in the museum. But heck, was fun.

The place we stayed at was next to the famous Mercanti Rialto, which is the fish market. It’s opened from 6/7 in the morning to about 3 in the afternoon. It is fantastic to go there and shop for fresh produce, not just fish. The fish there is so fresh and delicious. Thus decided to cook lunch instead of eating out one day. Was going to try my hand at cooking properly for the first time…haha…the girls were gonna be my guinea pigs in this gastronomic adventure.

Voici le menu:

Spaghetti Aglio Oglio with broiled broccoli

Poached Salmon with rosemary and black pepper

Grilled Calamari with butter sauce

Tuna Tataki (to borrow the name from Aquadisiac; basically half cooked tuna)

Pan seared peppers

Fresh scallops in butter and white wine sauce

Served with a white Cardonnay

Here are the pictures of the cuisine.

And the final dish which was the scallops

Haha, not bad right. =) Am feeling rather happy about it turning out well. Considering that all I had really cooked until then was largely outdoor and field cooking, this went really well. And it cost us only 10.50 euros each. Think I will survive the next few months in Paris. Will try out other cuisines; Eve is supposed to send me one every other week for me to try…hmm…am looking forward to that. Hopefully the place I’m staying will have facilities for cooking.

With that, Venice draws to a close. And so does the entire Italian Indulgence. Will continue to write in this blog about the going ons in France and the other places I go to later. School’s about to begin again, so it’s back to the books, but this time in French. And it’s also time to try and find a place to stay as well. Am going to put up at a friend’s place, he’s been really nice to let me stay with him at least for a week while I search for a place of my own. Do visit Italy if you can, it really is a beautiful country with beautiful women (they are prettier than the French, much prettier) and friendly people. Hope you’ve enjoyed the blog entries thus far. I promise to keep this blog updated; hopefully it won’t suffer an untimely death like this other blog, right bjcs. =) you know who I’m talking about.

Voila, c’est tout!

Fin.

Paradiso Milano; mais ce n’est pas pour les pauvres étudiants.

Europe is currently experiencing the coldest winter that it has had in years; it’s all over the news here. And Milan has had snow for the first time since eons, probably the ice age or something…that gives you a good idea how cold it is here. Rome and Florence are positively tropical when compared to the freezing temperatures here in Milan. The day we arrived, temperatures were around 4 degrees, and this was in the mid-afternoon. The rain didn’t help things either; it dropped to below zero at night. It was a rather miserable start to Milan. The minute we stepped out of the Terminus to the streets, the chill hit us full on the face; even underground in the Metro was no comfort. The cold wind found its way underground. In such chill temperatures, it’s amazing how anyone can get anything done at all. We had to drag ourselves out of the hostel room, and that very much reluctantly, to wander around the sights of Milan.

Our hostel was located near this metro station, Zara. With a name like that, how bad could it be?

Mmm…the hostel this time round was…well…dodgy. The mattress was terrible; even the one in Brunei was slightly better than this. And I’m not joking. The hostel was run by this Chinese family, so they spoke Mandarin and Italian. It was nice to speak a native tongue that I have almost not heard in almost a week. Oh and an observation that we made when watching an Italian television talk show thingy; if you hear it long enough, Italian starts to sound like Hindi. Bloody fast and unintelligible. And really irritating.

Milan, unlike the rest of the other two cities, has fewer historical sites of interest. The buildings are much less ruinous and largely more modern edifices. By modern of course I mean 18^th-19^th century pieces and not like our monstrosities in the CBD. We had just two places of historical interest to go to:

The Duomo likes at the heart of the city. Almost all Italian cities have a Duomo; it is like the central basilica for all cities and most cities grew up around them. This Duomo unfortunately was undergoing some restoration works so there’s nothing much to be seen here. Just us posing in the freezing rain.

And a compulsory statue of Napoleon sitting astride his horse.

Its style and architecture was very much different from the typical dome cathedrals that we are used to seeing. This one was a miasma of spires and turnpikes. Rather scary looking actually; back then if they could not convince you in believing in God, they’d scare you into believing. It looked like gargoyles would be right at home on it. Come to think of it, the cathedral in Strasbourg looked rather much like this as well.

After the Duomo, we headed to the Castella Sforza. An ancient fortress, it lies directly down the road from Duomo. These two buildings form the centre of ancient Milan; the walls of Milan were built with these two sites forming its core and the rest of the city growing around them.

Unfortunately by this time, we were too tired, cold and unwilling to part with more euros to enter the castle and walk inside it. We just wandered around the forum and took some pictures. It’s not terribly interesting; I guess it’s probably one ruin too many for us and the weather isn’t exactly the greatest motivator.

Milan however is fantastic for shopping. I must admit, the concept of shopping here is so much more attractive than back home in Singapore. There are no mega malls where shops are squeezed upon floors and floors of sterile compartments. Instead, shops are lined up along the streets, each window display made up with immaculate care with the most attractive fashions. Think of Paragon, the ground floor which we have to walk past, where Chanel and all the rest are. Now imagine streets and streets of that. That is truly window shopping; which given our budget, all we could afford to do. Prada, Gucci, Ferragamo, Ferrari, upmarket brands galore. The suits are really well cut and look so good, the shoes and bags…haha…think most of you would drool over it as much as I have. But it is for all the nouveaux riches and socialites of this world, not for us humble folk…maybe one day will return here with a vengeance…not likely, but maybe.

It’s also the Milan Fashion Week this week as well. Unfortunately we were not able to catch any of the shows but there were large screens around that were broadcasting them. Mmm…Italian models are so pretty…could just sit, sip my petit tasse du café and watch them strut down the catwalk the whole day. Suddenly it isn’t so cold anymore… =)

Will be leaving for Venice, which is the last leg of this Italian tour before returning to start school in Paris. It is Mardi Gras now, thus Lent is about to begin, another season of fasting and self-reflection. But before that, it’s time to party! Mmm…or sort of lah….hope it isn’t as cold there as it was in Milan.

Gute, ist alles. Auf Wiedersehen.

Firenze; Aufsteig und fall der Stadt Merdici.

Sorry for the delay in updating the blog. This edition covers the entire Florentine escapade, which includes Pisa. Am writing this on the last night we are spending here in Florence; we have stopped over here for 2 nights and will be leaving tomorrow for Milano (also known as Milan, for the Anglocised; Milano is its Italian name, not just the now defunct pizza restaurant). To start off, let’s start with a little History on this fair city of Firenze, or as much as I can remember and found out thus far.

(sorry another disclaimer is necessary here…this is another late entry…Florence was from the 17^th to 18^th)

Florence, the land of the fleur-de-lis on its coat of arms, is perhaps one of the most important cities, culturally, in Europe. It is the birthplace of much of Italy’s cultural heritage and the home of Michelangelo’s David and the Duomo. It is also where the Italian Renaissance blossomed from and of course Florence also boasted perhaps one of the greatest political entities in the Medici’s who had a strangle hold on both religion and politics from the 16^th to 18^th centuries. Almost no decent or even half-decent European historian can afford to overlook the importance of the Medici’s. For a greater understanding, go here and read up on Florence; it’s my favourite online resource for general knowledge and information you don’t need but can use, Wikipedia. Viva la Wikipedia! =) okay, enough plugging of a free online resource. Suivi.

Florence was a pleasant change from the hustle and bustle of Rome and a much nicer city to negotiate. For one, it’s smaller than Rome. Almost all the major landmarks are within 30 minutes walking distance from our hostel; in comparison, the Vatican took us an hour and a half of walking. The streets of Florence are also much cleaner, traffic lighter and most surprising, bereft of beggars. Until this evening, I had not seen a single homeless person living off the streets and the charity of others. I’m equal parts sad and repulsed to see people begging; allow me to explain, before you all go “tsk tsk tsk, such a void of the milk of human kindness, that boy”.

Many beggars that I have seen have been gypsies or Eastern European Diasporas, displaced from wherever they might have come from and are struggling to eke out an existence in a place where they have no skills essential to finding work, and probably illegal aliens as well. So many of them clutch young children or little babies, all wrapped up in layers of rags in an attempt to keep off the cold. It tugs at the heartstrings to see sights such as these; those of you who are mothers will probably empathise with the instinct to try all ways and means to protect your children and to give them a better life. And there are old men and women, abandoned by their families and all that they have are in the two plastic bags which they carry with them. As Asians, the idea of 不孝子 almost doesn’t exist in our dictionary. 饮水思源, filial piety ; such mantras form the foundation of our culture, though sad to say not everyone subscribes to it. Hopefully we still do, and that is enough, isn’t it. Thus with these extenuating factors, I only have sympathy for them who have no choice but to live off the streets. However there are those who irk me no end; healthy young men in the prime of their lives choosing the easy way out, going on the dole and begging on the streets. I mean, come on. You’re young and able bodied. Work you bum. Is there nothing that you can do to fend for yourself? All limbs functional, faculties of cognizance, speech and hopefully some intelligence intact, why can you not work? Should just kick them in the derrière and get them to clean the streets or something useful rather than literarily bumming around. In many ways, I am happy to see the Pakistani and African touts; at least they’re working and doing something decent for a living rather than begging or worse still, organised crime.

Okay back to the main storyline. Florence thus is a nice change from the dreariness of Roma. 4 days in Rome is more than enough; 3 would have been just nice, and frankly, we were getting just this little bit tired of Rome. Our hostel is along the Via Trebbio and its called Leonardo’s. Not a bad place, but the street that it’s on was like a Geylang back alley…haha…deserted and a little turn off the main road. It’s a cosy establishment, not that many rooms and we took the one with an attached bathroom. And the receptionist, lets call him Leonardo Jr, was quite entertaining. He’s from Croatia, a year older than me, and the hostel is owned by his Godfather. We ended up talking quite a bit to him over the past 2 days. He said he fought in Kosovo, which would have been about 7-8 years ago…can’t validate the authenticity of that, but its interesting. Oh and another interesting thing about this hostel; save for me and Leonardo Jr, the rest of the lodgers were female…mmm…such luck.

Our room...

This shop was along the same street as our hostel…notice it’s an anagram of someone’s name…hmm…wonder whose...

Florence is a shopper’s haven, not as massive and glitzy as orchard perhaps, but the shops and alleys are so attractive and friendly to the casual shopper. Can just enter in and spend so much time in them. Went into Sephora and we spent like 40 minutes inside looking at bath stuff and soaps and smelling everything. So nice. Felt like indulging and pampering myself, unfortunately the shoestring budget denies such extravagant spending…hai…looking at the Japanese people (and the place is infested with them) just go in and shop shop shop, depressing.

Several things that you must do in Florence: visit the Duomo and climb the dome, see David in the Galleria Dell’Academia, walk across the Ponte Vecchio, look at Botticelli’s masterpieces in the Uffizi, visit the Medici’s Palazzo Pitti, hop to the church of Santa Croce, and last but not least, go up to the top of Piazza Michelangelo. And as Pisa is nearby, take a day trip down to it, it’s just an hour’s train journey away, and the leaning tower is not one of the wonders of the world without good reason.

The Duomo is another legacy of Michelangelo; the ceiling is painted by him and it depicts heaven, hell and purgatory in gruesome detail. Don’t have really nice shots of it though, just maybe this is passable.

You can climb up to the dome of the cathedrale, costs 6euros though. But I think it is money well spent. It brings you up closer to the ceiling of the dome and if you climb higher, you’ll emerge into a blustery panorama of Florence. It was so windy up there, but the view was magnificent. There was the sun breaking through the clouds and for a moment, it seemed all surreal. The photo at the start of this entry is from the top of the Duuomo. The Duomo itself looks out of place in continental Europe. Honestly, it looked very much like it belonged in St Petersburg than Florence; its mosaics are decidedly Trotsky-ish, iconoclastic rather than traditionally Western Catholicism. Rastignac would be at home walking past this. Mmm…

Probably the most famous sculpture in the entire oeuvre of Michelangelo, David resides in the Galleria Dell’Academia. It’s not a very fancy place; I almost missed it due to its inconspicuousity. We got lucky, entry was free for the day. Woo hoo. However, pictures were not allowed in this gallery, thus I don’t have a picture of David to show. Oh wait.. =)

Not a really good shot, Kelly managed to take a quick shot of it…before getting scolded of course. Haha. I can wax lyrical about the artistry of Michelangelo’s creation, but will refrain from being too pompous and obscure here…just note the beauty and the realism of the musculature and the brilliant attention to all the minor details. The curve of the calf, the small muscle between the shoulder blades and the arm; its all comes together. It is a massive statue, standing over 5metres tall and weighing almost 6 tonnes. Oh and talking about attention to ‘minor’ details, the statue is also famous for its distinct lack of a fig leaf at a certain highly conspicuous department on the male anatomy. Mmm…it is rather well proportioned as well, almost what one might say, accurate...haha…since this blog is technically PG, I shall just leave it at that. =)

Ponte Vecchio is just a really old bridge and it’s thronged with gold shops. Don’t bother though. The gold is largely 18k, and we Chinese don’t buy anything less than 24k. And its expensive here as well. It gathers its fame from the beneficence of the Medici family, I think. There is a bust of one of them on the centre of the bridge. I could be wrong, but oh well. If any of you go there, do correct me yah.

I did not manage to go to the Uffizi as it was much too crowded. A pity though, would have loved to see the Botticelli’s in there.

Oh, there is a wonderful leather flea market at this place called San Lorenzo. Must go there! There are so many beautiful leather products; the smell and touch of leather is just so intoxicating. Was so tempted to just splurge on a leather jacket; would mean that I would have to starve for the next month though. Food vs Material wants. Food wins. Hai…But there are really many nice things to buy there and its not too expensive. For a really good leather jacket, you can get it for 150-250 euros, and the cutting/leather is really good. It costs slightly less than what you would pay for a branded one which would not have the same quality. If there is ever a motivation to go back to Florence, that would be it.

The Palazzo Pitti was the home of the Medici’s and subsequently the Lorraines who replaced them in the 19^th century. To get a better idea of the reign of the Medici’s and what they were like, think of our own glorious LEEders. Sama-sama. Owned practically everything, called the shots for everything else and basically had their fingers in every pie. As the name “palazzo” suggests, it is almost like a palace; the compound is huge and it has its own Botanic gardens. All the ceilings are painted with stories from Greek or Christian mythologies and there is marble, gold, brass, bronze, silk, every luxury imaginable, all over the place. We managed only to a fraction of a wing of the mansion. And that took us over an hour. Such riches; it’s almost vulgar. There was some commemorative event so entry into the Palazzo Pitti was free…again!

The Leaning Tower of Pisa, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, assuming the list is still the same as I remember it to be. It really is quite a right pretty sight. And a fantastic place to try and take retarded photos of really stupid poses. Haha. Pretending to kick the tower, leaning on it, pushing it, etc. Tried to take a Deuce Bigalow shot but it didn’t work out quite as expected…pity. Can’t put up the picture here though for obvious reasons of decency. =)

You must climb the tower; though it is the most expensive of all the attractions so far. 15 euros buys you the opportunity to climb up 300 steps and you have a 30 minute time limit. The view from the top is worth it though, and you do get some much needed exercise. At the top of the tower, you can truly feel the severity of the incline; the whole world is tilted. If you have acrophobia or suffer from vertigo, this is not a wonder of the world for you. Go to the pyramids or something. For the rest of you, this is a place that you must visit and see the world through a different angle; not everything has to be straight and narrow, sometimes being just a little off-centre takes off the rigidity off existence.

Finally, the Piazza Michelangelo. If you’re as much a sucker as I am for panoramic views of cityscapes, you cannot miss this out. We wanted to catch the sunset there but by the time we reached it, dusk had settled and we had to content ourselves with the city of Florence stretched out below us all ablaze with the lights of humanity.

It was a beautiful sight and a wonderful way to round up this short trip to Florence. Was like a certain poem that eludes me now. To see the world in a grain of sand, and hold eternity in an hour; for that brief moment, looking at the world down below, one could almost have pretensions of immortality. The beauty of this ephemeral existence, nothing gold can stay. We can only make the best of what we have, nothing more, but nothing less either. From Florence, cheers.