| Reflections on the Day of: Saturday, June 9, 2007
Even as we made our way to our next destination, I couldn't help but react with glee every time we turned into a new street or found a new canal with its own richness and character. Each block was like a different neighborhood, with its own textures and ambiance, and all the architectural excitement was making me giddy.
ON OUR WAY TO THE PEGGY GUGGENHEIM EXHIBIT
We found our way to the Guggenheim after a few wrong turns into dead end streets (hey, we wanted to get lost anyway), and generally had a good time inside the galleries, although Andrea found less to enjoy than the rest of us (not being a fan of contemporary art). And while I did like a lot of the paintings and art pieces inside, the highlight of the Peggy Guggenheim was actually what I found outside.
AN AWESOME PRISMIC ART PIECE IN THE SCULPTURE COURTYARD OF THE PEGGY GUGGENHEIM
As we were walking out the doors of the last gallery, I was suddenly reminded of something a couple of my friends had told me about during their visit to Italy. Last year, before they came to France as part of my study abroad group, my USC classmates Danli and Jason had visited Italy for a week. I remember Danli telling me about this interesting triangular art piece they had found made mostly of glass, with circular holes on all three sides, although only one of the holes was actually open (the other two were filled with glass). One one side of the triangle, a large mirror lined the inside and outside. The entire prism was placed in a courtyard, inviting guests to look at it from all angles and experiment with their perceptions on transparency and reflection. Why this recollection suddenly occurred to me at this moment was beyond me, but I remember being disappointed that I had forgotten to ask where they had found it. So imagine my joy and good luck when, not more than one minute after this thought popped into my head, I walked past a courtyard and saw the exact same prism standing in the middle of the space!
MADE OF GLASS AND MIRROR, IT REALLY PLAYED WITH TRANSPARENCY AND REFLECTION
This was most fortuitous, and I couldn't help but jump up and down in excitement like a small child inside a candy store and Andrea and Jill looked on with great amusement and tried to maintain their composure at my energetic cries of delight over a simple glass triangle. It wasn't until I pulled them into the courtyard and had them walk around, bend down, and look at the art piece from different angles that they understood why I was so stoked. Somehow, I had found this art piece right after it occurred to me to look for it. If that isn't chance irony, I'm not sure what is.
THIS ART PIECE MESSES WITH THE SENSE OF PERCEPTION... IN A FUN WAY!
After fifteen minutes, as we left the Peggy Guggenheim, I commented to Jacqueline that although the galleries were quite nice and probably worth the price of admission, this prism definitely made the entrance fee worthwhile. She smiled, nodded, and pretended not to be disturbed by my excitement over such a seemingly trivial thing (at least I'm guessing she might have been perturbed inside). I chuckled. Andrea and Jill sighed in that "you're weird but that's why we love you" sort of way.
We continued on.
CONTINUING ON TOWARD SANTA MARIA DELLA SALUTE
A SNAPSHOT OF SOME OF THE LOVELY TEXTURES OF VENICE
We decided that since it was no more than five minutes away, we might as well visit the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute. Even if its dome was under repair, we could still enjoy the interior.
As we walked through the narrow corridors, getting lost several more times before finding the right street to connect to the church, I constantly found my eyes falling upon new frames, new vistas, new textures, and new patterns. From aged brick walls to hanging vines to stone archways, I found numerous architectural and landscaping elements to fascinate my photographic and architectural eye.
Did I mention Venice was wonderful?
LOOKING AT THE GRAND CANAL FROM THE PLAZA IN FRONT OF SANTA MARIA DELLA SALUTE
The church itself ended up being very tranquil... and a little smaller than I expected. There was no Latin cross shaped plan, no long nave. Instead, the interior space was essentially everything under the dome, plus a few arms to the sides that had some prayer areas. And with its location being at the end of of a peninsula, not many people were around. We sat down and appreciated the peace and quiet.
INSIDE THE CHURCH, LOOKING UP AT THE DOME
THE MARKETPLACE JUST OFF THE RIALTO BRIDGE
After lunch, we slowly made our way back to the train station. Although Andrea and Jill's train to Milan did not leave until 4:30, they still had to return to their hostel to pick up their luggage and then come back to the main island to catch their train from Santa Lucia. To be safe, they wanted to leave around 3:00 or 3:30. I tried to avoid thinking about what I'd do once they were gone. I would still have the rest of the day to hang out with Jacqueline, but that would still mean a half day in Venice alone and about. I'm a social person. While I do enjoy the occasional solo time for self-meditation, when I'm visiting places, I need to be able to talk to other people.
MORE BACK ALLEY CANALS
That said, we continued to encounter beautiful back alley canal after beautiful back alley canal. With time to spare, we constantly made random turns at random intersections, exploring the city without any plan, before consulting the map every ten minutes to make sure we were still headed in the right general direction. I have to say, even if this strategy didn't lead us to any specific attractions, it was still a fantastic way to really get to know the nature of the city. Tourist attractions are mostly for show. It takes getting away from the bustle to truly know the heart of a town.
THESE HIDDEN SURPRISES WERE ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS
FANTASTIC CHOCOLATE AT A CONFECTIONARY STOREFRONT
We made it back to Santa Lucia well before three, only to find everyone in disarray. Glancing up at the big timetable boards, we noticed that everything was heavily delayed--some trains over three or four hours! Something had gone wrong, and disastrously so, at least in terms of schedule. And as we walked around, it became apparent that nothing had left or was leaving the station anytime soon. Worst yet, no one really knew what was going on, or when the trains would resume their routes. The only news I was able to ascertain was that there was something blocking the tracks. Whether this referred to a train derailment or a workers' strike or something else was not clear. But as the delays continued, the slightest bit of worry began to creep into the minds of Andrea and Jill. If they didn't make it to Milan, the rest of their trip would be drastically affected, since they were hopping from Venice to Milan to Bern to Paris on three consecutive days, and everything had already been reserved.
Eventually, we decided that the bus might be a better way of getting back to their hostel. So we walked over to Piazza Roma, where Andrea and Jill bought some bus tickets and got onto the #6 bus, waving goodbye to Jacqueline and myself. Jill gave me a flower she had picked and worn on her ear, as a sort of half-sappy goodbye present, and although I accepted it with joking melodrama, I couldn't help but actually feel sad that they were leaving. I had spent a fantastic eleven days in Italy, and a large part of that had certainly been the company. Now that the company was leaving, I found myself feeling somewhat lost.
In fact, about an hour later, I would suddenly be hit by a strangely powerful sense of forlorn despair--a potent sense of longing for two friends who'd shared so many adventures in such a short period of time. It was strange, for me at least, because although I am quite an empathetic person, I am almost never openly emotion. But I would not be able to deny it. The sharp pangs in my heart were proof: I really, really missed Andrea and Jill. Already! And it even seems a little odd for me to put this down in writing, but sometimes, you simply have to record a certain feeling.
How odd emotions can be sometimes!
A PUPPETEER PLAYS A MARIONETTE CONTROLLING ANOTHER MARIONETTE
I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around with Jacqueline, who provided very nice company in the absence of my two friends. We strolled by a puppeteer putting on a fun little marionette show. We found some other piazzas to walk through and even look around. We had gelato somewhere in the middle of the city. We found a fantastic exhibit on famous musical instruments that happened to include an art gallery featuring the work of J. Meloniski, a fantastical artist who combined vibrant oi pastels with fabric swaths and mixed media to produce whimsical dreamscapes that somehow made Jacqueline and myself quite giddy with happiness. These paintings were quite fun to study in detail, and the materials really reflected the fanciful play of art the infused each "painting."
ONE LAST LOOK AT ST. MARK'S CATHEDRAL
We made our way back to St. Mark's Square to simply rest and enjoy the views. I took some tim to sketch, and finally regained a bit of my drawing hand. By late evening, however, it was time for Jacqueline to go home as well, so I walked her back to the train station and bid goodbye to my new friend from Las Vegas (and a member of Teach for America, no less!).
A CRUISE SHIP LAZILY FLOATING THROUGH THE DEEPER SEA CANALWAY
The hour I spent by myself in the waning dusk of day was one of the loneliest hours I've experienced in a long time. I had gone from traveling and bonding with two very close friends for two weeks to sitting in Piazza Santa Margherita, waiting for some time to pass before catching my camping shuttle bus, and the sudden transition had left me feeling a bit miserable. And as much as I tried not to think about it, I couldn't help but feel the pangs of loneliness. Although if there was any benefit to this, it was that some inner meditation revealed that my greatest fear in life is probably spending it alone. And that's true to a certain extent for all people, but for me, I think it might be only reality that could ever extinquish my natural optimism.
Fortunately, things ended well. On the bus ride back to Camp Jolly, I met four Malaysian students on vacation in Italy. I ended up joining them for a late and light dinner, and we agreed to meet back up tomorrow morning and visit The Biennale together. I remembered, too, that one of my architecture professors had urged me to see this veritable world's fair of modern art if I had the chance. How lucky, then, that my last day in Venice coincided with the opening day of this once-every-two-years fair!
--
For more photos of Venice, check out my Facebook photo albums:
VENICE
|
