Venice

Venice means Queen of the Sea. This fishing city’s wealth came form the sea and trading. The 117 islands began sinking from the buildings above and were secured with lots of logs standing straight and tightly underneath the surface. All of the islands are connected with over 400 bridges. There are no cars or Vespas like the other cities. Walking a ton or taking a water taxi is the only ways to get around. It is a very unique city!

Gondola ride:

A must when in Venice!!!

St. Mark Basilica:

This Basilica, built in the 1100’s is the oldest monument in Venice. It took 50 years to build, and 500 years to decorate. The church has 1800 feet of glass and gold textiles.

Dodge’s Palace:

A Dodge is kind of like the President. He is the head of the Church and State, has governors, senate and court underneath him, but always has the last say. In the Dodges palace is a gold plated ceiling. It is this way so that others will come in knowing that the Venictians are supposively richer than them.

I went to the Art Academia in Venice which has only Venician paintings. I saw one that was a painting of St. Mark’s Square and God flying above it. The Square looked exactly like it looks today, except in the background had ships in the canal and the people in the square were wearing Renaissance clothing. It’s cool how history can be portrayed in art.

Guggenheim Collection:

Peggy Guggenheim (1898-1979) was an art collector. Her motto was to buy a new work of art each day… rich lady if you couldn’t tell… She loved modern art: Abstract and Surrealism. The galleries that I know about were opened in London 1938, New York 1942, and Venice 1949. I visited the gallery and saw pieces that people have seen in books, but still have no idea what they really are like. I was going to buy a poster of Jackson Pollock’s ‘Alchemy’ for my classroom one day, but didn’t after seeing it because it just doesn’t give the work justice. Other works that you might know, that were featured (but we weren’t allowed to take pictures of) were Picassos ‘The Poet’, and Max Ernst ‘The Kiss’.

Getting lost in Venice is a part of experiencing it. When I was lost, I came upon a church holding 60 reproduced models of Leonardo da Vinci’s invention notes. Made from wood, brass, fabric, and bronze they are divided into sections of war, flying, water, mechanical, and building. He was a genius. Living from 1452-1519 and being a painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, and writer makes him the archetype of the Renaissance man.

P.S. He pretty much invented the bicycle, but it wasn’t coined till the 1800’s.