Beautiful Venice

We left Milan by train to Venice, an easy 2.5 hour trip. Arriving in Venice was a bit more difficult as we squeezed our way onto a very full public-transport vaporetto boat that made every stop down the Grand Canal to St. Mark's Square. From there we caught the boat to our hotel on the Isola Delle Rose, which was beautiful and included great (if distant) views of Venice. 

The hotel also had a lovely breakfast, which we mention just so we can show the Harry Potter-themed cappuccino art from the talented barista (Accio Coffee! indeed):

Although we were a bit concerned that the 20-minute boat ride to and from the city would make our trip more difficult, we ultimately found the ride to be very relaxing, and the boat consistently ran on time. We also got great views of the city from the water.

Venice is not that big of a city, but the many canals can make getting around the city a bit difficult. Fortunately, the "blue dot" of Google Maps definitely made it easier to find our way. We crossed the Grand Canal several times by one of the four bridges over the canal:

But, when a bridge was not nearby, we tried a traghetto (Italian for ferry) -- a small boat kind of like a gondola that simply goes back and forth from one side of the Grand Canal to the other. For two Euros each, we got rowed accross with about 10 other people:

Of course we did the main tourist stuff: walked around St. Mark's Square and listened to the cafe bands play, toured the Doges' Palace and learned about the history of the Venice Republic, which lasted almost 1000 years, and visited St. Mark's Cathedral with its disparate architectual styles:

But, for us, the city itself with all its nooks and crannies was the biggest draw:

The other cultural thing we did was use our Guggenheim Bilbao membership to visit the Peggy Guggenheim Collection for free. The permanent collection there is almost entirely modern art with a good representation of surrealism. It also included this impressive collection of glass statues of various Picasso sculptures:

Notice the Grand Canal right outside the museum, which includes a fantastic terrace.

For me, the best part of our visit to the museum was a special exhibit called Surrealism and Magic, which explored the influence of magic on the thinking and art of the surrealists. As a fan of surrealism I particularly enjoyed the exhibition because it included a number of artists I had never even heard of before, many of whom were women (almost always underrepresented in all areas of art).

And, of course, the food is amazing. Shellfish is a particularly large part of the Venetian cuisine, which provided for amazing pastas (if you like that sort of thing, which I do, but Shana not so much):

We had a great time in Venice and would definitely return to the city. One of the things that really interested us was the operation of a city that is so dominated by water. And, as we were heading back to the train station, we passed a FedEx boat making its rounds (with dolly attached). Everything can be adapted to the watery world of Venice.

That is it for our adventures in France, Switzerland and Italy, but we will have more to come soon.

Ciao,

Jeff and Shana

Milan -- Return to Italy

We are always happy to return to Italy. Unfortunately being a bit sick did make it difficult to enjoy the wonderful Italian food. Nonetheless, we made do, and were also very appreciative of the history of Milan.

Milan is another city that was very important during the Roman Empire, and after the Empire legalized Christianity, Milan became its religious center. The site of the current Duomo (cathedral) of Milan was the site of a church as early as the 4th Century. The current spectacular building is the third largest in the world (after St. Peter's in the Vatican and the cathedral in Sevilla). When it was  begun in 1386, it was designed to hold the enire population of Milan -- 40,000 people:

Although we generally do not like to pay to see churches, we were happy to pay 15 Euros each for the full ticket in Milan. In addition to seeing the inside of the Duomo (impressive stained-glass windows and 100 giant columns), we visited the Duomo museum (which houses the many statues that have been taken down from the Duomo over the years, along with a scale-model of the building), and got to climb up to the building's roof. This was definitely the best part.

First, on the way up, there is an intermediate stop where you get a good look at the building's flying buttresses:

Then, on the roof itself, you have great views of the city (duh), but also of many of the 135 statues of saints that sit on pillars around the building (this guy seems to be taking in the view of modern Milan with us or perhaps he is judging Milan's modern materialism):

Being on the roof of the Duomo really makes it obvious what an incredible architectual achievement the building is, especially considering that its construction took place mostly between 800 and 400 years ago!

After the Duomo, we visited  one of Milan's main art museums, the Pinocoteca de Brera, which contains paintings almost entirely from Italian artists. Although we were not really impressed with the art -- so, so, much of it religious -- there were two interesting things about the museum. First, it is in a beautiful old building that also houses an art school (sorry, no pictures); and second, they have built a large clear "box" in which the museum's art restorers do their work. Very interesting to be able to watch this process.

Of course, the Duomo is not even close to the only church in Milan. We also were able to visit two others. First, the beautiful Church of San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore. This heavily-frescoed church was built for a group of closistered nuns, which means it is basically two churches back to back -- one for the public, and the other for the nuns so they can participate in the services without being seen (even including a small space in the wall between the sections so they could receive communion). Here you can see the ceiling and just some of the frescos on the nun's side of the church:

And, the frescos are not limited to scences from the New Testament. Here is part of a fresco representing the story of Noah and the flood -- we were surprised to see a couple of unicorns (?!?) climbing up the gangplank into the ark.

The second church was the Basilica di Sant Ambrogio. Yet another site where a church has stood since the 4th Century. The original church (called the Basilica of the Martyrs) was built by St. Ambrose in 379-386, and the relics of the original martyrs remain in the current church. Although not the original building, the current 11th-12th century building is impressively old. There are also two very interesting older items in the church, both of which can be seen in the photo below. On the left, is the 4th century sarcophagus of Stilicho, which contains many carvings of Jesus and his disciples. To the right is the golden alter and the wooden structure above it (called a ciborium) are from the 9th century. The basilica of Sant Ambrogio is definitely worth a visit if you are in Milan.

Finally, we walked a lot in Milan (of course), and wandered through the grounds of the impressive Sforzesco Castle. This impressive structure (including at least one drawbridge over a now water-less moat) was begun in the 15th century, but significantly expanded in the 16th and 17th centuries when it was one of the largest in Europe. Now, it houses about nine different museums (it really is huge), and its courtyard is open to the public where plenty of people are just strolling through or hanging out.

While Milan may not be our favorite city in Italy, it was good to learn about the extensive history of yet another city that has been a center of various civilizations for over 1500 years.

Now, on to Venice.

Ciao,

Jeff and Shana