Ravenna & Venice

Back on the bus...

Along the way, we heard many stories...

The story of Galia Placidia and the Goths... Galia was very beautiful and seemed to be able to manipulate men at the drop of a hat. She married Atila the Hun, who was raping and pillaging his way over the alps. It was he who forced the locals to move down to the marsh lands and settle, thus the first Venetians. When Atila was killed she moved to the second in command. When she was sick of that, she asked Rome if she could come back... since she was so beautiful, how could they refuse... so they took her back.

Italy's greatest writer, Dante Aligerie was expelled from Rome because of his book "The Divine Comedy". He was buried in Ravenna, or was it Venice? I forget... anyway, they weren't happy about him so they decided to dig him up to make sure he was dead. All they found was a note giving instructions in regard to how to find his body. It turned out that it was hidden in the walls of the monastery by the monk.

In Istanbul at the time, women could teach at University if they were behind a screen or behind a veil. The Venetians thought this was a brilliant idea and saw it as being quite the fashionable thing to do. Thus, masks and veils were introduced.

Balonia... I think this is where Michaelangelo requested that he be able to cut up bodies to find out how they work. The head monk was appalled and asked that it never be spoken of again, in fact the conversation never happened. But the head monk left the key out so Michaelangelo could do it at night, "without him knowing". Thus the reason we have the detail in the sculpture 'David'.

We were entering the Modiner Region... Mussolini drained it and got rid of malaria and found the ground was rich in minerals needed for good crops. Thus fruit trees are in abundance. Asparagus here is also a big thing. I think they're wasting their time since it's a disgusting vegetable but whatever. Apparently there is a saying here, "as quick as boiling asparagus", since they are prepared within seconds. Mussolini did a lot of good things before things went sour.

Since we were being told about food, Alison explained that there is minimal sauce used with pasta. Pasta is only seen as a starter meal thus it only involves tomato and basil, very subtle. The Antipasto is supposed to take the hunger off. Bread comes after that. You see, at this point the stomach is prepared for carbohydrates, the meat course. Then comes dessert which sends endorphins to the brain to assist with digestion. And finally, a nice Grappa is had as a digestive. All quite scientific really.

We were also told about the origin of Parmesan cheese and of Balsamic vinegar (as in the real stuff which comes from particular grapes and is very expensive and only comes out on special occasions, if at all since it takes over 50 years to make and only 70 30 centilitre bottles are produced per year)

Since we were on the road between Bologna and Modena, it was notable that this three lane highway is the place where Ferrari test drive their cars.

After descending the Apennine Mountains, we came across Ravenna... It was made Capital of Rome when the empire, at the time, was split in two. It has a mix of Roman, Christian and Byzantine cultures. It is known for its beautiful mosaics. When we stopped, we were taken to the church of San Ditale. I must admit that the majority of us are a little over churches now. I know my internal monologue was saying "not another freaking church!". Our guide was Verdiana. This church did have something different, like I guess they all do, the fresco's were impressive I guess but I just thought they looked a little too cartoonish. They had a lot of gold incorporated though. I guess they were good. We had lunch and I had a chance to test SMS functionality at the Three shop. It worked but they thought that those people who couldn't send me messages were with carriers who didn't have an agreement with the carriers here... sounded plausible.

Before we entered Venice we were told some more stories. For example, Marco Polo was apparently referred to as the "man of a million" 'cos he had a million stories which he kept telling. I guess he was a bit like Alison, except he was apparently trying to prove himself whereas Alison was trying to distract us from noticing we were on a bus for an extended period of time. Marco brought back noodles, not spaghetti, and also the fork... to be used with spaghetti.

The Venetians were well known for their glass blowing since the method was still secret. In fact just having this knowledge was enough for a criminal to avoid a harsh sentence. As a society the Venetians would go out of their way to cause shock so that even more people would want to come visit. They had an interesting law stating that if someone wasn't recognisable then they couldn't be charged for anything. Thus, if they wore a mask, they were safe. This wasn't too helpful for having affairs but it did enable people to go gambling. In addition, since having an affair was near on impossible with a mask on, the solution was to invent covered gondola's, obviously!

The Venetians were quite smart. In case of attack, bell towers would sound the alarm and they'd escape through the canal system on boat. The bell towers never exceeded the height of the buildings, therefore the enemy could never use them to find where the Venetians had escaped to and thus they could escape in safety. Tricky!

On the way, we had a bit of a temporary seat swap 'cos Hazel wasn't too well. It was cool sitting at the front again, it's definitely a better vantage point. I got to talk to Abby, who is the youngest of the tour group, about music and other general chit-chat, including my sandwich at lunch... You see, I couldn't recognise the third ingredient... it was white, didn't have a particular taste and kinda looked like a cross between egg white and processed chicken... Alison couldn't believe I was describing the local specialty cheese this way, especially since she had gone out of her way to choose it for her lunch. Mama Mia! :-)

It was funny how not long after someone, I think Abby's Mum Viv, mentioned the lack of motor homes on the roads, we started to see more and more of them along our trip. :-)

Back to Venice... the city has had an interesting history. Its had Napoleon take over, the Austrians had taken over too. Oh, let's not forget that they weren't getting the recognition they thought they deserved so in an attempt to address this, they stole the body of St. Mark and switched it for a fake! As you do! By the time it was found out, it was too late... they had him. Thus, they could now claim the namesake and get the recognition from the Pope, etc. They were a funny lot.

I was full of questions, like how are the islands held up? how much rubbish ends up in the canal system? When is Carnivalle? Can we see how the masks are made? I wanted to know whether we'd see how buildings were held up by balloons like on James Bond... Apparently there's none like that, apparently it was just a movie! Apparently James Bond's private boat wouldn't have been allowed on the Grand Canal. Movies! You cant believe anything these days! I ask you, what else is there to believe in if movies are fake?

Anyway, to get to the city, the city referred to as the "queen of the Adriatic", you'd commonly take the Bridge of Freedom, this is the bridge that connects the mainland to the major island. Before its construction, you could only get there by boat. For this reason they say this bridge took away their freedom. To use this bridge, you need permits so our first view of Venice was the industrial area where you get the permit.

Getting the permit didn't have the Venice feel anyway so, really, our introduction to the city started when we got off the bus and boarded the gondolas. Let me just say that it's sound advice to wait to board until the person before you has sat down comfortably. I hadn't quite steadied myself and it felt a bit hairy when the next person boarded.

It was cool travelling along under the bridges and along the canals, looking at all the losers deciding walking along like it was as fashionable. I must admit, I would have enjoyed it more if I weren't in the side seat. I hate boats at the best of times and it didn't feel that stable. My fear of water, though illogical, may have something to do with that I guess. I shouldn't be too worried, the majority of the canals (other than the grand canal) are only one and a half metres deep. Knowing this doesn't help. I must admit, it kinda felt like we did a big circle, almost coming back to where we boarded. Hmmm... I think we did.

Everything arrives via boat into the city, including our luggage. When you recognise what this actually means... groceries, store stock, bread, milk, ice cream, clothes... it's just amazing. A boat full of luggage is a sight to see though... I could imagine it going into the water.

The cool thing is that we were staying on the island rather than on the mainland like common tourists. This was one of the main reasons why I chose Insight. How cool! :-) Our hotel is cool, the rooms are of an older style. The hallways are a bit like a rabbit warren, up stairs, down stairs, up again, but once you get used to it, it's fine. It adds to the charm. :-)

I decided to explore a bit before the evening's activities. I was kinda deliberately trying to get lost. It'd be easy to get lost. A number of times I found I was confronted with a dead end... these are true dead ends... the path just ends and the next step is water! I tripped over once, that hurt like hell. Anyway, the bridges enable you to cross the canals so it'd be easy to forget which part of the island you are on. To get from island to island you go by boat so at least you know you wont get too far on foot. These islands are waaay bigger than I thought they were though... they're well established and very large. While I was walking, I realised I had fat fingers. Lyn said later it was to do with how much walking we were doing and that it was water retention, like how people get in their ankles. Odd. I felt like Homer Simpson when he got fat and wore a moo-moo and couldn't dial the phone and the recorded message said "your fingers are too fat, if you require a special dialing wand, please mash the keypad now!". If I had to get my ring off in a hurry, there'd be skin involved! I digress... some of the buildings here have had clear movement... the brickwork curves and there were a number of clearly uninhabitable buildings. It was cool. At his point, I wanted to go back to the hotel but I was kinda spun around. I decided to follow others since they probably knew where they were going, unlike me. The first attempt prove unsuccessful when this young guy led me to a church entrance and another dead end but on the bright side this nice old lady smiled at me. :-) While I'm on the subject of churches, it's notable that getting married in Venice has become very popular for foreigners. So much so, they've had to stop foreigners from booking their churches on weekends so that the locals can book their weddings too, otherwise they have to wait another year or more to book. I digress again... I came across a university and noticed that the majority were leaving via a particular way... I followed them until things looked familiar and made it back. The weather was quite hot but it was nice to wander in and out of shops selling glass and masks... the mask shops were very fascinating. Unfortunately, I couldn't tell a good mask from a bad one. The ones hanging from the stalls outside must have been inferior and the dedicated shops must have had the good ones but then there were the different styles... very cool though. Just seeing these made me want to come to Carnivalle and get dressed up and go to a fancy to-do with a cool mask.

That night we boarded boats and headed to St. Mark's Square. On the way there was time enough for those funny photos where you try to take picture of yourself and someone else by holding the camera out in front... the results are most amusing. We were fast approaching lovers bridge or kissing bridge, I forget the name but what you're supposed to do is kiss under the bridge or close your eyes and make a wish if you're on your own... it's supposed to bring you good luck or something. It was funny seeing some of the photos of those who tried to capture their kiss... even with practice, they turned out to be pictures of foreheads. :-)

We arrived at St. Mark's square and it was a great sight at dusk with no one around, particularly when the lights all turned on. I think Napoleon was right to close the square up with a wall... it adds something to the experience. Not that the sight moved me to tears or anything like it was supposed to do but it did look elegant yet wondrous. How girly is that for a description? Anyway, at the other end we could see the two poles, one with the lion and book, the other with the guy and a dragon. I forget who he was.

The night was great. I had a hot chocolate which tasted like it was just that... hot melted chocolate, it was brilliant. It started raining but that didn't stop the enjoyment. There was live music and dancing was started by the Coonabarabran folk which was great to see. I got dragged up at one point by Lyn. It was cool seeing Herb get up with Jane too. There was even a conga line which Abby was roped into by Lyn. :-)

On a completely different note, it was fascinating to watch the foul-tempered waiter. His first mistake was spilling some white wine, then he bashed it down in frustration only to make a mess of the nuts too... clearly he had a problem with something. This was highlighted by the way he was scurrying about rearranging chairs and tables. He'd even rearrange your chair if you got up for a dance. Odd... it was like he was justifying his existence. Then there was the odd lady with the small dog, clearly a fashion item rather than a living creature. All in all, it was a nice evening especially if you include not only the entertainment with the band but the characters around about too.

Soon it was time to go back to the hotel and sleep...