Tuesday – November 8, 2011
Another rainy alta aqua morning in Venice, Italy. It was beginning to be routine for us. There was a steady rain outside, so I decided to leave my digital Nikon camera in the hotel room because I didn’t want to get it wet in the rain. I took all the photos in today’s blog with my iPhone. At the end of the day, I was pleasantly surprised with the iPhone photos. They’re not too bad!
At least the vaporettos were running! Our tickets to the Venice Biennale were still good for admission to the Arsenale and this was another good “museum day”.
Waiting For a Sunny Day
The Arsenale is a huge tract of land and water in the Castello Sestiere which had been the dockyards of Venice since the early 1100s. It is enclosed by medieval walls punctuated with towers. The impressive land entrance is a Renaissance triumphal arch dating back to 1460 which is guarded by two ancient Greek lions. We took the vaporetto from San Marco to the Arsenale station and walked to the entrance of the Art Biennale.
The Hong Kong Frog King Exhibit
The large exhibit space in the Arsenale was perfect for large contemporary art pieces because of the very high beamed ceilings and thick medieval brick columns. Below are some of my photos from the exhibit. I think they give a good idea of the art and the exhibition space.
Photographs From China
New York Gallery Catalogues
Noisy Creature Mobile
Shadow of the Object in the Photo
Great Space
A Lotta Melted Wax
Ladies Room Graffiti
Inspired by unusual visual images, we left the Arsenale and walked toward the Grand Canal. It was drizzling a little, but the sky seemed to be brightening over the lagoon.
Rio Dell’ Arsenale
We walked to the Arsenale vaporetto station and hopped (literally) onto the next vaporetto going north. We had never visited the huge church opposite Piazza San Marco, so we continued one more vaporetto stop to “La Salute”. The huge marble church is formally known as the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute. The beautiful white marble church was erected in 1631 after the Venetians, who were overwhelmed by the plague, pledged a solemn vow to build a church once the plague had subsided.
Basilica of Santa Marie della Salute
The architectural interest of the basilica is that the interior space is dominated by a huge main dome with a large rotunda below which opens out to six chapels. A number of notable Italian artists’ paintings, including Titian and Tintoretto, adorn the walls of this impressive building.
Light on the Grand Canal
The Basilica is on the end of the Dorsoduro Sestiere and we thought it would be fun to explore this district, which seems more residential. I also wanted to see the Peggy Guggenheim collection which we had missed the last time we were in Venice. The museum is just a short walk over a couple of bridges from La Salute. Unfortunately, when we got there, we discovered that the museum is closed on Tuesdays! Oh well, there’s always next time!
Squeri di San Trovaso
We walked along the Calle Nova Santa Agnese and found an outdoor cafe for lunch. We sat at outdoor tables with some students from a nearby university. Jeff and I had tasty sandwiches on good bread with fresh ingredients. Well fortified, we continued exploring while the sun tired to come out. We were rewarded by finding the Squero di San Trovaso. This is one of the few “squeri” still in operation in Venice. A “squeri” is a boatyard where gondolas are built and repaired. How cool is that!!?
Workman at Squeri di San Trovaso
We watched the activity at the squeri from the other side of the Rio San Trovaso for a little while and then continued walking down the street. A short distance away, we also found the woodworking shop where the little chairs and carved tops of the gondolas are made. Amazing!
Rio San Trovaso
We came upon an open square (a campo) where there was an outdoor flea market. I tired to buy some old postcards but everything was way over-priced, in dollars or euros. It was fun to look at Venetian “collectibles”.
The Mask Shop
Then we found the mask shop where we had purchased two masks on our last visit. The owner had expanded into another shop, but we remembered the original and browsed.
Mask Shop Window
What a fun place! All the masks are hand made of papier mache and hand-painted and decorated. They even have a copy of the old plague doctor’s mask. I imagine they do a great business during la Carnivale in the spring.
Traghetto on the Grand Canal
We returned to the hotel to rest up before dinner. Jeff read about a highly recommended restaurant near the Rialto called the Ristorante Rosa Rossa. It was a modern style place with brick walls and nice warm decor. The people were very friendly and after waiting for a nine o’clock reservation, we had a delicious dinner!
Note: the actor Johnny Depp, who owns a villa in Venice, purportedly likes to eat at Ristorante Rosa Rossa. It is reported that Mr. Depp gave his jean-jacket to the owner and it is framed in a plexi-glass case and mounted on the back wall. Here is Jeff’s photo of the jacket. It would have been even more fun if Johnny Depp was there that night! :-)
