Venice's Superiority Complex....and the History of the Fork

Well, it's been a while, but I must say I am a bit disappointed that no one gave me feedback on whether the pictures worked or not. I have more from this weekend in the same format but a different folder, and I've been waiting to hear that it worked before putting them up on here, but I guess I'll have to put my faith in the system of the crazy internet and assume it works.

I really like my Representing Renaissance Venice class-- I think the best part is that it's taught by a real Venetian who was born here and grew up here. Today we got on a tangent about how Venetians are mainly arrogant snobs when it comes to anyone without a long lineage in the historic center of the city. Professor Bassi admitted that Venetians are very fond of their privacy and unwelcoming towards newcomers, but said that it's because Venice reached its peak in Charlemagne's time (800AD), and has been declining ever since. It's true-- Venice today lives because of its own propaganda put out throughout the centuries, drawing tourists from all over and creating a fame unsurpassed by any other city in the world. They did a great job- an average square meter of property here goes for $10,000 US. Crazy to think that people are willing to shell out tons of money for property in a sinking city. Apparently Elton John has an appartment here in La Giudecca (one of the subsections of Venice...it's actually not even the "ritzy" area-- this is where most of the common Venetians live, including my professor). Anyway, so that's the reason that Venetians are rather unpleasant to deal with. My professor even admitted that locals give tourists bad directions on purpose many times. But to play devil's advocate, imagine trying to cross the Academia bridge three times each day to go to and from work and being stopped twenty times and asked to take a picture, or being behind tourists who randomly stop to take in the view. Tourists have already frustrated me so much that I've planned out new routes to where I usually go, avoiding all the touristy areas like Piazza San Marco and the Rialto, and I've only been here for two weeks! I can't imagine living in this city my whole life.

Well, enough of facts.com for today. I've got lots of catching up to do! On Friday I went with Keshia, Jenn, and Margaret to Murano bright and early. We checked out a few factories, which were definitely really cool but would've been a little cooler if someone had been there to explain what the men were doing. I found some really awesome surprises that got me very excited (after being told by many Muranese that they don't exist or they're not authentic Murano glass), and then we went to the Glass Factory. They had examples of glass from the first century! Glassmaking in Murano really became popular in the 1200s though, and they've perfected their art after the fall of the Ottoman Empire (because it created a large demand once the Islamic glassmakers no longer supplied the majority of glassware). After a lunch of (what else) pizza, we took the ferry over to Burano to check out the lace. We spent the afternoon wandering around because the houses are all brightly colored-- seriously, there was a hot pink house next to a neon green one next to an orange one. But the houses aren't the only brightly colored things; their marina looked like a rainbow too-- the boats seemed to match the houses! We decided that Burano is definitely worth returning to because it's so cute and different.

Here's the link for the pictures from Murano and Burano: http://williams.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013962&l=6e969&id=3901306

On Saturday I went with Keshia to tour the Palazzo Ducale. The building is definitely more interesting from the outside than the inside, although the dork in me got excited when I saw a painting of the Lion of St. Mark by Carpaccio that we had talked about in my Venice class last Thursday. The coolest part of that palace is definitely the dungeon-- the pathway down to it includes walking through a covered bridge with tiny windows: the prisoner's last glimpse of the outside world, often for life. It is a beautiful view of the lagoon and a church with a marina on its own island. The palazzo also has an extensive (and I mean extensive) collection of medieval armor and weapons, but hey, one sword looks the same as the next to me. Later that night I went out to a bar that's supposedly popular with the Italian students, near Campo Santa Margarita, because Sunday was Margaret's 21st birthday. Keshia and I left after about an hour because we didn't want to chance missing the last vaporetto, and on the way back we stopped for a slice of pizza and happened upon the most amazing pizza place in all of Venice. It charges about 2 euros for a slice that's equivalent to at least two big American slices, and they use really good tomato sauce, fresh cheese, and of course the crust is the thin crunchy kind. It was so good that Keshia and I went back on Sunday afternoon for another slice after doing homework all morning. Then Sunday night a bunch of girls went out for Margaret's birthday dinner. I ate spaghetti with a creamy tomato sauce and little shrimp bits in it. This is noteworthy because normally I cut my spaghetti into little bits, which never fails to prompt the words "the Italians aren't going to like you" from Lelo. But this time I didn't cut it! I finally mastered the art of twirling spaghetti.

Yesterday I got an e-mail from Camp Wediko saying that they need to schedule a two-hour long interview sometime soon. I called them and set it for today at 4pm, but the lady called and rescheduled for Sunday at 3pm. I would've preferred to get it over with before going away this weekend, but at least she's going to call my Italian landline so I don't have to worry about not hearing her very well over Skype on the computer.

I'm excited because this weekend Keshia, Margaret, and I are going to Milan and Bologna. I'm glad to have found friends who find museums and medieval churches as interesting as I do! Tentatively we're planning on visiting the Duomo, Castello Sforzesco, Chiesa di Santa Maria Delle Grazie, Navigli District, and the Chiesa di San Lorenzo Maggiore. I don't remember now what's interesting at each place, but I'm sure we'll find out when we get there! We also want to do some shopping, of course. Unfortunately we're thinking that most of that will be window-shopping, but my excellent investigatory skills have found a few warehouses that sell all the Italian designer apparel with a large discount because they're last-season, so I'm hoping maybe to find a cute pair of Farragamo flats. That's the one thing I told myself I really wanted to buy before getting here, so I'm going to check out the prices here in Venice before going to Milan, and hopefully it'll be less than what it is in the States. Anyway, then we're planning on going to Bologna on Saturday afternoon. We were told by some of the other girls that went this past weekend that there are some cool churches to see, and a 500-stair tower to climb, but that's about it, so we're planning on getting there after lunch and staying til just after dinner. Traveling is always the best excuse to not eat at the cafeteria here.

Well, I've got Italian homework, a paper for one of the Spanish guy's classes, and lots of reading to get done before tomorrow's classes. My homework for my Venice class will be fun: go to the Rialto and take a gondola across the canal (if you need to cross where there's no bridge you can take a gondola for 50 cents) and "take in the ambience of the market." That would be the local fish market. I can only imagine how smelly that'll be! Where else can you have "ride a gondola" as your homework??!


Oh, and a quick last word about the history of the fork (in case you actually remembered that from the title of the post): Thomas Coryat (a British gentleman in the 1500s) wrote in his book about his travels that he saw a curious thing when he came to Italy, and in all his travels this was the only non-barbaric country to use it: when people cut meat they use a fork instead of their hands, and in fact using your hands is frowned upon and seen as a serious offense. Coryat was so amused and impressed with the fork that he brought it back to England. And that's where the wide-spread use of the fork came from.