Arrivederci, Venezia!

View of San Marco from San Giorgio Maggiore

My time in Venice has already drawn to a close.  I'm writing this entry from a lovely family-run pensione in Florence, where I am staying for a few days.  The hotel is right by the train station, so when I arrived earlier this morning I quickly dropped off my bags and have already walked around central Firenze for a few hours.   I'm really looking forward to this trip, but more on that in a bit ...

Giudecca

View of Dorsoduro

This past weekend was a wonderful opportunity to have a final exploration into areas I hadn't seen, visit the "sights" I hadn't yet touristed, and essentially, say goodbye to Venice.  I was able to take some cool photos of the view from the campanile at San Giorgio Maggiore (a church on a small island right across the water from San Marco).  I also happened upon an INCREDIBLE free exhibit on Giudecca called Modernikon: Contemporary art from Russia.  The show was housed in a beautiful old palace with large, light spaces,  high ceilings, ornate moldings and gorgeous windows - the contrast of the contemporary sculptures, paintings, photos and documentaries displayed there was lovely, as was the entire exhibit in general.  I have a soft spot for Russian art and history, and I'm not sure where it came from.  For some reason, (maybe the strong influence of Russian ballet instructors throughout my formative years) I have always loved taking courses on Russian socio-political structures, historical trends, and art ... this exhibit combined the work of established and up-and-coming Russian artists, who have made political statements using contemporary artistic means, commenting on the merging of the past and present in Russia.  There were some very moving pieces, and I thought it was one of the best contemporary art shows I've ever seen.  Photos of the show, with descriptive captions, are also in the photo-link above.

Andrey Kuzkin's "levitation Heroes" - made from bread (used as a plaster), they represent conflicting symbolical meanings such as life and death, disintegration and elevation, and symbolism and materialism.  They were ENORMOUS

This guy was my favorite ... he seemed so soulful, I just wanted to touch his face! (Actually, I did, shhh) ... and the drawing is a sketch by an artist whose name I can't recall, but his somewhat satirical allusions to popular Russian and Soviet culture in his drawings reminded me of a Russian Daumier. 

School and consistent fun made the past three weeks pass by so quickly, and I can't believe that I was in Venice for almost a month.  It's not the type of city one visits for an extended period of time, generally.  When I came with my family as a 13 year-old, we stayed for three magical days, saw all of the important monuments, got lost in streets and allies and walked through markets ... but living in Venice changes the way you see it, and the city loses some of its mystery.  After a week I was no longer lost every time I tried to find my way home, and after two I actually knew my way around.  Still, Venice is not a city that you can comfortably call home, even when it becomes more than a tourist destination.  

Random Crew Competition on the Grand Canal ... that shut down the entire vaporetto system!

But, I loved it.  It was fun to walk amongst the tourists and think, I'm one of you, but I know more than you do ... I still feel out of place ... but so does everyone on this island so does that mean we're all in the same boat? (heh heh - boat).  The overarching point I'm trying to make in my ramblings:  I have a feeling that no matter how long you stay in Venice, no matter how familiar you are with it, you'll always feel like a tourist ... and that makes it a unique and really exciting place to stay.  Being too comfortable is easy, and it was an amazing experience to live and study in such a remarkable and quixotic fairyland.  

My last gelato in Venice ... was "monumental," to say the least ...

I left my apartment at 6:30 this morning, and no one was out yet ... there were hardly any boats on the Grand Canal, and taking the water-bus from Rialto to Ferrovia Station was like a private last tour of the city.  I will miss Venice ... but I am ready to be on the mainland again.

Bye bye Venice!

Buongiorno Firenze!!!

The first thing I noticed upon arriving in Florence were the cars!  I had forgotten about those things ... they're kind of scary.  This week should be exciting because (a) I will reintegrate myself into the world of endangered pedestrians and (b) I'm here covering a fashion tradeshow event in Florence, Pitti Imaggine.  I have a friend from college, Sade Strehlke, who graduated USC a year before me and recently started her own online fashion editorial, The Icon Concierge (check out her amazing site!)  She is launching an Italian edition of the website in November, and wanted to attend this week's events but unfortunately had conflicts - luckily for the both of us, I happened to have this week off and was already in Italy!  So, she has had all the press passes transferred over to my name and I will be reporting as European Correspondent for TIC in Firenze, Italia.  

Press Pass and Inivitations!

Check out The Icon Concierge's site for my guest posts, and I'll put stuff up here as well :) Stay tuned ...