I am back in LA safe and sound (well as safe as you can be in LA). I don't anticipate putting any more pics up for a while. It was fun while it lasted and I really appreciated people's comments. If any of you can recommend your fave pic from the trip, let me know. I am thinking of printing some of them out for tangible memories ;)
Nathan
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Venezia, water is romantic
This is a posting that should have happened before the last one, but hey, I was lazy (occurred on the 11th of August).
So I arrived and went looking for my hotel. I would look down each small street and they would all be named in odd ways, one was even named by a mosaic on the ground. I was looking for calle della misericordia. So I just kept walking and walking because I saw that this canal was named misericordia and i thought that it must be the street along there. Well there was no street there and there is this huge street from further up the canal that was named fondamente dell misericordia (close but not quite) but I thought, it has to be one of the small side streets off of it then. I checked out all of them and I was really sweaty and really tired and had been walking with luggage for an hour so I broke down and talked to a cabinieri (which alessandro and vittorio had taught me to despise). They are basically military police and they helped me out a lot, spending like 15 minutes with me to help me find it. So they sent back from where I came and it turns out that my street was way back next to the station. Not only that, it was the street with the mosaic. The mosaic didn't tell the street name, but something else i guess. Well I found my room. Took a shower immediately and then went out into a dark venice to forage for food. I ended up picking this nice sandwich shop bar place. I sat down with three girls that turned out to be from san diego. They were playing gin rummy and I joined in for a few games. Then these guys from San Francisco came by and it was like a California reunion. Well, most of the night was spent telling jokes and I can't remember any good ones, but if I do, I will let you know.
In the morning, I kept my luggage with the hotel and began foraging for sights. I met a friend from improv classes in the internet cafe. I think his name is Sean, but I didn't ask. But I bought a vaporetto ticket for the day and then went around. Vaporetto are basically their buses of the water. Gondola's are very expensive, very slow and only for romantic tourists. I was alone ;) I made my way to the only piazza there, Piazza San Marco. It is a huge open place (no fountain) but a beautiful church and some beautiful architecture around there. The biggest thing were pigeons though. There are all these vendors selling bird seed and the kids use them and the pigeons are pushy and will come right up to you and eat. I thought it was kind of dirty, but hey pigeons have a right to eat too. I walked through it all and am amazed to not have had a bird poop on me.
A cool, off beat, find that I encountered was this church that had been cleared out so that this artist could project his film and ambient music on the ceiling. There were these cushions set out on the floor so everyone could lay down and watch. It was so relaxing. It was very student film though. But it was way more art than this stupid mona lisa wannabe andy warhol thing that was near the train station. It was like a lot of these low res mona lisa pics (with photoshop borders) and in different colors. I agree with the comment in the pic below :)
I wasted the rest of my time on the vaporetto that circle around the islands and visit the adjacent towns. All in all, Venice is a beautiful, romantic town. I just think it is definitely not a town to visit alone, because all of the romantics are wasted.
So I arrived and went looking for my hotel. I would look down each small street and they would all be named in odd ways, one was even named by a mosaic on the ground. I was looking for calle della misericordia. So I just kept walking and walking because I saw that this canal was named misericordia and i thought that it must be the street along there. Well there was no street there and there is this huge street from further up the canal that was named fondamente dell misericordia (close but not quite) but I thought, it has to be one of the small side streets off of it then. I checked out all of them and I was really sweaty and really tired and had been walking with luggage for an hour so I broke down and talked to a cabinieri (which alessandro and vittorio had taught me to despise). They are basically military police and they helped me out a lot, spending like 15 minutes with me to help me find it. So they sent back from where I came and it turns out that my street was way back next to the station. Not only that, it was the street with the mosaic. The mosaic didn't tell the street name, but something else i guess. Well I found my room. Took a shower immediately and then went out into a dark venice to forage for food. I ended up picking this nice sandwich shop bar place. I sat down with three girls that turned out to be from san diego. They were playing gin rummy and I joined in for a few games. Then these guys from San Francisco came by and it was like a California reunion. Well, most of the night was spent telling jokes and I can't remember any good ones, but if I do, I will let you know.
In the morning, I kept my luggage with the hotel and began foraging for sights. I met a friend from improv classes in the internet cafe. I think his name is Sean, but I didn't ask. But I bought a vaporetto ticket for the day and then went around. Vaporetto are basically their buses of the water. Gondola's are very expensive, very slow and only for romantic tourists. I was alone ;) I made my way to the only piazza there, Piazza San Marco. It is a huge open place (no fountain) but a beautiful church and some beautiful architecture around there. The biggest thing were pigeons though. There are all these vendors selling bird seed and the kids use them and the pigeons are pushy and will come right up to you and eat. I thought it was kind of dirty, but hey pigeons have a right to eat too. I walked through it all and am amazed to not have had a bird poop on me.
A cool, off beat, find that I encountered was this church that had been cleared out so that this artist could project his film and ambient music on the ceiling. There were these cushions set out on the floor so everyone could lay down and watch. It was so relaxing. It was very student film though. But it was way more art than this stupid mona lisa wannabe andy warhol thing that was near the train station. It was like a lot of these low res mona lisa pics (with photoshop borders) and in different colors. I agree with the comment in the pic below :)
I wasted the rest of my time on the vaporetto that circle around the islands and visit the adjacent towns. All in all, Venice is a beautiful, romantic town. I just think it is definitely not a town to visit alone, because all of the romantics are wasted.
Saturday, August 13, 2005
Death and Life
Munich again. Acted as a tour guide for my dad and grandpa. 3 generations of cool guys.
The town now, however, is being overun by teenage catholics that are taking over the town and playing music and performing. Aparently a of cities have their version of this and all of them will meet in Cologne next week to see the Pope.
Saw the glockenspiel actually turn this time and I read up on the scenes it was interacting, which were kind of interesting. Still not my bag.
We hit up the Hofbrauhaus and it was fun. I got the sausages this time and they are better than the weird pork i had last time.
Learned that Munchen's name comes from the old german word for monk. Monks first settled the city. ;)
I pushed us to go quick and visit Dachau this time though. So as you can see I have posted photos from that. Dachau was not a death camp, but a political prisoner camp, where they treated you horribly and you died, not mass killings. This was the first one and considered a model for all others. There are like at least 4 new churches and synagogues built there. It seems to detract from the solace and the capturing of the mood. The Dachau trip was well worth it though and we made it back in time to have a doner kebab and make our train back.
I know the photos are a little depressing, so I will end on an up note :)
The town now, however, is being overun by teenage catholics that are taking over the town and playing music and performing. Aparently a of cities have their version of this and all of them will meet in Cologne next week to see the Pope.
Saw the glockenspiel actually turn this time and I read up on the scenes it was interacting, which were kind of interesting. Still not my bag.
We hit up the Hofbrauhaus and it was fun. I got the sausages this time and they are better than the weird pork i had last time.
Learned that Munchen's name comes from the old german word for monk. Monks first settled the city. ;)
I pushed us to go quick and visit Dachau this time though. So as you can see I have posted photos from that. Dachau was not a death camp, but a political prisoner camp, where they treated you horribly and you died, not mass killings. This was the first one and considered a model for all others. There are like at least 4 new churches and synagogues built there. It seems to detract from the solace and the capturing of the mood. The Dachau trip was well worth it though and we made it back in time to have a doner kebab and make our train back.
I know the photos are a little depressing, so I will end on an up note :)
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