Venice

This morning, I had breakfast overlooking the Grande Canale. The food is simple and excellent--salami, cheese, bread, yogurt, coffee, juice, crepes, and cappuccino. I've gotten spoiled on Seattle coffee, so the cappuccinos are only OK, but I really like the simple Lavazza drip coffee in the morning. It's mild and still has a nice flavor.

Mornings are beautiful here. M--- checks in with everyone at breakfast and is a very gracious host. He is very proud of his new location and he should be. He approved of my plan to see San Rocco and San Polo in the morning, followed by the island across from San Marco in the afternoon. I left the hotel and went over the Rialto into the fish and produce markets across from the hotel. It's a huge farmer's market, and you can really smell the fresh vegetables and fish. It's very nice.

After that, I walked along the canal and saw a few of the famous buildings up close and then made my way to San Rocco to see the Tintoretto there. It was great, but I prefer Titian and Tiepolo. Tintoretto's works are too stormy and dark. Titian's works are brighter emotionally and chromatically, and Tiepolo's have even more color. I know it's not fair to compare Tiepolo to others because people build on what came before, and I think Tiepolo was younger.

Life must've been pretty good in Venice then for these artists to have the time to create beautiful paintings and architecture. I'm sure many of the stoneworking skills are lost to history and progress, and marble or stone buildings aren't likely to become popular again, but it's nice to think about a revival of those building techniques and styles.

After seeing San Rocco and San Polo, I ate lunch in a touristy restaurant in the area. It was a simple meal, not bad, but it didn't come close to the Osteria and Restaurante I went to last night and the night before. I spent hours after lunch trying to find the Minoan Lines ferry departure terminal. I walked from the Piazzale Roma bus station to 1. a wholesale seafood market, 2. the regional ferry service terminal, and finally 3. the right place. I got lost before that and ended up exploring a neighborhood on the west side of Venice near the Architectural school. Apparently, the water bus service can get you there.

Eventually, I made it back to the hotel but didn't have time to see the island because I had to wash clothes. I did that at a laundromat near Santa Maria Formosa and had a pretty good slice of pizza afterwards. I bought fruit outside the laundromat and the angry vendor said, "Please don't touch the fruit!" His wife helped me to a couple of mediocre oranges and two (hopefully) good apples.

After that, I went home, slept, and had a weird dream about a heavy woman with pulled back black hair who was behind a door saying, "No. I'm OK. It's OK signore." but she wasn't OK. She had burned her face somehow. Another more attractive woman was there with me--a dark-haired woman from Zurich with a lace bra. We could not find a water hose or a bucket in the square and we were both running around screaming in slow motion, but the scream sounded like a low alarm clock, with an alarm that was slow and sustained--"burrrummmmmrr....burrrrr...." It frightened me, and I woke from a deep sleep.