Serenissima

Italy, Italy, we're done for a while. Its been two quick flings, but let's face it sweetcheeks: you and I just ain't cut for each other.

Don't get me wrong; that last time especially was fun. But after the strike at Malpensa (foreshadowing: Malpensa roughly means "evil thought" in both Italian and Spanish) that delayed my flight to Madrid (la Realissima) for almost 5 hours, your capricious ways and fading looks just won't be enough to lure me back.

*Begin flashback*

The weekend previous was very slow, and a bit lonely. It was alleviated somewhat by spending some time with my friend Lauren, from El Paso by way of Amherst College. We get along well enough, and like to share jokes about Massachusetts. I do miss Brandeis, I will admit. But the longer I am here, the more I am convinced that this has been a great experience for me in more than just my resume, both academic and personal. I have learned a lot about how I interact with other people now that I've been stuck in a foreign culture for a month and a half and I hope to learn even more in my remaining time here.

I woke up on Tuesday morning feeling unusually exhausted. I was naturally more than a little confused, considering I had just gotten a full night's sleep. Within about 5 minutes, my excessively runny nose told the tale: I had a head cold.

I spent the next 48 hours in a bit of a fog, but by Thursday I was feeling better after I aggressively made sure to get at least 10 hours of sleep, and I bought a box of tea. However, I was apprehensive because I knew that I'd have to spend Thursday night in the Malaga airport, b/c my flight to Milan left at 10 in the morning, and no bus left Granada early enough to make it feasible to spend the night at home. Sleeping in the airport is never really sleeping. Its more like a disjointed series of nodding offs. And that's precisely what happened. I managed to snag about 5.5 hours in the airport, even though I officially went to sleep at midnight and woke up at 7:45. Fortunately, the flight from Malaga to Milan was 2 hrs, so I was able to bring my total up to 7.5, but I still wasn't feeling 100%. To make matters worse, I woke up just as my flight was descending with my right ear in a world of blistering pain.

I got out of the airport, and took the bus to downtown Milan. I had about 5 hrs until my train to Venice, and my only real goal was to see La Scala. Unfortunately, I didn't find it. Apparently, the Milanese don't consider it important enough to have signs pointing to it, but I did get some pretty fantastic pictures of the main cathedral of Milan. Definitely by far the coolest cathedral I've seen yet.

But in terms of Milan in general, I was somewhat disappointed. Milan is supposed to be the most vibrant city in Italy, and as far as I could tell (having not really gotten acquainted with Rome), it was. But everything was just a little....shabby. I'm perhaps being too harsh. On the outskirts, there were some bright, clean buildings. But the overall impression was a world-class city that could have been. Italy is famous as being the recurrent underperformer in the EU economically, and my general impression has been consistent with that assessment. Milan has a nice subway system, cool trams, a modern airport, knowledgeable and friendly people, and was the only city in Italy that I've visited so far that felt like it subsisted more than on food or tourism. But for all of that, both Barcelona and Madrid are shinier and more friendly-looking places to travel.

A note to all of the European aficionados. In Milan, I will proudly say that I ate a Burger King. I would have eaten at McDonalds, but I didn't see one until afterwards. Why, you may ask, do I bring this up? Because there was no way in hell that I was going to waste the time and money trying to hunt down some "authentic" Italian eatery and try to communicate with waiters who spoke no English. It was enough of a pain in the ass at Burger King, where the waiter thought that "il numero quatro" meant that I wanted 4 chicken sandwiches, instead of the #4 on the menu. But regardless, I am tired of lectures about eating authentic food while abroad. That's great when you speak the language, or you have a travel guide. However, like hell am I going to do it just to show how "un-American" I really am.

So around 5, I trucked my stuff together and headed back to the train station, and headed off to Venice. Train ride was uneventful, and I rendezvoused with Marina at 9:00 P.M. and we got onto the bus and headed to our hostel, which was near the airport. I was still feeling under the weather, so I conked out immediately. Unfortunately, the room was extremely poorly heated, so I did not get a peaceful night's sleep. I woke up the next morning resolved to push through the fatigue and enjoy what Venice had to offer.

And boy was that a good decision. By far my favorite city in Italy is Venice. I was expecting the worse, to be honest. Venice is the only major city in the world where there is no motor traffic downtown. It's economy is powered almost exclusively by tourism. Its in a country notorious for economic mismanagement. The thousands of visitors every year are legendary for defacing the city little by little. And it doesn't help that Venice is in fear of being swamped by its own lagoon. Nevertheless, I've wanted to go to the Queen of the Adriatic my entire life; infinitely more than I wanted to ever go to Rome. Venice is such an important part of world history, far more than almost any city you'd care to name in Spain, that it was a necessity. And I must say, my fears were unfounded.

Venice was vibrant. Venice was clean. Venice was alive, and I had the time of my life there. The lack of motor traffic made navigating the city much more of a free-spirited adventure then having to dodge traffic in Madrid or Florence. Our first stop was to check out the old Jewish Ghetto, which was near the train station. Venice has the world's oldest ghetto, and in fact, its where the word comes from. At the time, the Jews were consigned to living in the far north quadrant of the city, which was near some getti, or foundries. Although the surviving Jewish population is small, we did find the old synagogue with a full-page article about the community from the Wall Street Journal and a picture of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, so obviously, there were still a few folks kicking around. Just to seal the deal, there was a small street of Jewish bakeries and and Israeli restaurant. We deemed this legit, as there seemed to be very few tourists in this section of the city. Satisfied, it was on to find pizza!

We were recommended a place due south from the Jewish quarter, in the Dursoduro district. It wasn't hard to find, but alas, the place was closed by the order of the law for.....tax evasion. Or at least, that's what we think it was. My italiano isn't so good, although I must say I could generally follow a conversation. Unlike my friend Catalan. Anywho, we started walking towards the Grand Canal and we managed to find a pizza place on the way. We located the Rialto bridge, the largest of only 3 bridges that crosses the Grand Canal:

(Add picture here: Blogger not letting me upload pics again)

We crossed on the Rialto, and headed into the San Marco neighborhood, home not only some of the oldest parts of Venice, but also the world-famous St. Mark's Square, Basilica, and Bell Tower. In spite of what you may think, geographically speaking, St. Mark's isn't in the center of the city proper, but instead at the bottom, on the lagoon (the honor of being in the center belongs to the Rialto, more or less.) It took us a good hour of just wandering purposelessly through the streets to stumble upon St. Mark's. And what timing we had:

(Add another pic here. For simplicity's sake, you can link to the facebook album for now that Marina's put up documenting the trip until I can get this damn thing to work:

http://brandeis.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2040025&l=ba1eb&id=9804049

http://brandeis.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2040026&l=95150&id=9804049)

All right, anyway, the plaza was amazing. Most of the tourists were gone, so we got to watch the sun set and the lights come out over the plaza. A live band was playing what I'm 99% sure was the Radetzky March by Strauss Sr. and it really added a sense of magic to the whole place.

The next day, we walked around the city some more, and we headed back to St. Marks in order to find the Arsenal (Dad, I was thinking of you.) and to get into the Doge's Palace. Unfortunately, the Arsenal's museum was closed (it was Sunday), but we did manage to get into the Doge's Palace. What a treat! We couldn't take any pictures, but it was truly amazing. Although the Doge of Venice never had much political power, he was still given a position of respect unequaled in the Republic (think the Japanese Emperor), so almost every inch of his palace was a work of art. I was really taken aback by the frescos on the ceilings, usually depicting religious scenes, but the coolest was the Doge's waiting room. In it were two giant globes of the world, made in the 1700's, and the walls itself were maps of the known world. It was neat to see both how relatively accurate the maps were and to see what was considered "Terra Incognita" at the time.

We left the Doge's palace and decided to get some gelatto, per the recommendation of a friend. We got a little more than we bargained for (each serving was monstrous), but like good children we ate every bite. The sun was beginning to set and the chilly wind of the lagoon began to blow, so we packed it in and headed towards the docks, and after finding out that a gondola cost 80 euro, decided to take a water bus for 6. The pictures are in Marina's album, but I must say, the ride up the Grand Canal to the bus station was a once in a lifetime experience. It was just stunning to see the heart of Venice from the center of its brackish artery, and gaze at the barnacled water-marks on the side of stately 16th century homes, stores, and mansions.

The next day, I took a train back to Milan, and after a 4 hour plane delay, headed home to Madrid, and then to Granada. I was really pleased with this trip because not only did I see almost everything I wanted to see, but Venice's charm was irresistible and it colored all of my memories of my trip in a warm, happy hue.