Carnivale in Venice: Day 2

February 14th

I am to make it clear that we came to Venice for Carnivale, NOT Valentine's Day.
Okay, now I can move on.

Look a canal!  And a gondolier!

We went to the Frari Church, which from the outside is unassuming.  On the inside are several very large monuments.  There's also something about Titian's Assumption and how it broke the traditional placement of characters in religious paintings at the time.  (There is a Rick Steves walking tour for this church).

Titian's Assumption and a crazy monument with skeletons.

The beautiful and ornately carved wooden choir.

This angel might have leprosy.  Or some serious skin disease.

We left the church and wandered more around Venice.

Another canal!  With more boats!

San Marco Piazza.

Outside the Doge's Palace

Costume Parade Part 3!

A range of costumes, full out to just wearing a mask.

Mr. Pink FancyMan!  Only, now he's Mr. Gold FancyMan.

This guy's on a horse!   Oh no wait....it's just a guy in a horse mask.

Dan says these guys came from the 90's.

I don't know what that is in the background, but the gondolas made it all very picturesque.

Same with this photo.

Here is an example of the crowds that showed up on Saturday.   

I am glad we did a lot of wandering around on Friday before all these people arrived.

There are Native Americans in Venice?

This is the park where we found my Venice Geocache. 

GIANT MERINGUE!

Also did I mention we got masks and capes?

We had wandered off into a less popular/touristy part of Venice.

The Communist Party and Democratic Party headquarters.	This tower leans but I don't see anyone making a big deal about it.

Costume Parade Part 4!

                                                                              Jareth the Goblin King!

From behind, these ladies reminded me of the fairies from Sleepy Beauty.
Turns out they were vampires or ...... something?

There were about 6 of these folks running around Venice on jumping stilts.

So many people crammed into tiny alleyways!

We went to the Peggy Guggenheim Museum of Modern Art.

Danseuse Blu (Blue Dancer) by Gino Severini

Dan in the garden.

Direction by Jackson Pollock

Bet you didn't know Jackson Pollock did things other than make messes on canvas.

Glass Sculptures after sketches by Picasso - Egidio Constantini

Silver Bedhead by Alexander Calder
This photo is for Danielle.  Look!  It's a Calder that isn't huge and orange and ugly!

Not the Rialto bridge.


We also went to a nigh of opera where they played and sang some of the more famous arias from various Italian operas.

I have not felt homesick since we have been overseas; however hearing someone other than Franco sing Barber of Seville made me homesick.  Franco is the chef and owner of the most wonderful little Italian restaurant in the town where I grew up.  If you ask nicely, he will sing for you.

These guys were FABULOUS.

This ends the 14th.

Carnivale in Venice: Day 1

February 13th

Dan and I decided, kind of last minute, that we were going to go up to Venice to people watch for Carnivale.  We got in on the evening of the 12th.  But did not do too much exploring until the 13th.  Also, big chunks of photos are just going to be people in costume.  So enjoy that.

Photos from the 12th:

The Rialto bridge!

This guy in costume probably waiting for his significant other.

Chocolate tools and hardware.

A tiny bridge over a canal.

The Rialto bridge again!  

This concludes the evening of the 12th.

Onto the 13th!

The Rialto market was near our hotel.

Critters from the water!  Critters from the water EVERYWHERE!

Also fruits and veggies.

A view of the Grand Canal from the Rialto bridge.

A neat light.

 A very fancy gondola.                                     The San Marco bell tower.

The bell tower collapsed in the 1920's.  That's why it looks so much newer than anything around it.

Costume Parade!

Some of these are just random photos of people dressed up, but they did have a big outdoor stage where they periodically did crowd judged costume parades.

             Mr. Pink Fancyman.                                    This guy's name was Mr. Sofa.

It is important to note that there was no criteria to enter the costume contest.  You would have adults in elaborate costumes alongside children in their disney princess outfits.

Amusing graffiti/posters.

All the tourist shops that line the street just beyond the Rialto bridge.

One of the old churches had a Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit in it.  

They had models of various inventions of his.

Dan and the pulley demonstration.  This one's for you Jim.

A boat with a big scythe.  Or a battle boat.  Like BattleBots.  Remember that show?  It was great.

So many Da Vincis!

Masks for kids.  I really liked the hippo.

Various traditionally masks.

A Venetian traffic jam.

Okay, so I just thought this was funny.  This girl was trying to be all fancy pants with the Prada sign, but you can clearly see the guys tearing up the space behind her.

Costume Parade Part 2!

The main stage for the costume contests.

Walking back to our hotel for the night we came across this parade thingie.  There was a large crowd of people in black hoods with masks holding various larger masks on sticks.   

This concludes the 13th.