April 22 Venice Ramblings

April 22 Venice Ramblings
Ipod Dylan Blood on Tracks
Espresso
Tiziana café
This is a fascinating city of contradictions. Its old and so much beauty yet its faded. Beauty and the old are of the past. It doesn’t function now for them to survive except as it brings tourists their main business.
You are in church with Tiepolo on ceiling
Tintoretto on walls some Giorgione, today saw Veronese, Bellini…
Peggy Guggenheim is buried in her Sculpture Garden with her beloved dogs.
There I was in a room with 4 Pollocks
A really unusual Rothko with strips of horizontal red called Sacrifice
Everywhere these shops and stands have painted masks and only saw one shop with woman inside painting them. Same with glass one shop where someone actually making the glass figures and painting them.
I went to synagogue for services Friday and I was checked outside all of us were very few jews live in Venice. Orthodox service and women upstairs – men pray downstairs. Rabbi said something about pane and matzo maybe you only eat the matzo as bread for shabbus Sabbath.
Then this morning to church for services – Chiesa di Giusida – in Sacristy surrounded by Tiepolo and Tintoretto trying not to gaze there. Tintoretto paintings are all dark – wonder how they looked then.
One woman Venitian artiste – Rosalba Carriiera – saw her wonderful portraits at Accademia.
Get somewhere I walk and sometimes use vaporetto – its their bus on water – and really delightful experience stand outside and watch water, boats, buildings and some palazzo.
These gondolas are something and very expensive probably about $150 usd. Each one is unique a work of art all shiny black lacquer and same size and shape yet each is decorated with rugs, upholstered seats and icons
Venice is a dichotomy – fell from very high place and yet survived something about its survival is anti-Venice. Reminds me of Max Ernst painting at Guggenheim here – Antipope. The old identity is here and everything else sits on top pretending its original, unique and not.
Its interesting coming here as tourist yet separate from American world in Venice. A lot of my early difficulties since arriving Wednesday afternoon come from living in Italian Euro Venetian world. I am aware of the differences and i have no guide to bridge the gaps. Like how to read map and get somewhere walking.
So now I am beginning to experience life here.
I was in church waiting for concert and thought about someone I knew who didn’t feel anything. Its easy to think about that here cause Italy is so emotional. The glass symbol here is red heart. Anyway he learned very young to survive by not feeling anything. We all have that something we adapted to survive. And really its nothing more than a sweater – you can keep it on or choose to take it off….j