Another fun photo blog, this time from Venice!

This is northern Italy.


I live here. As you can see, Milan isn't located near any large body of water. Sometimes when it's not foggy or smoggy you can see the Alps. That doesn't happen very often during the winter though.

This weekend though, I left Milan and headed to....


Venice!


Of course, it is very picturesque.


I was very happy to be there.


Though, it was frustrating at times having to be the tour guide. I've been to Venice four times now and still I've never been inside Saint Mark's Cathedral. Oh well, at least I always have an excuse to come back.



This is our hostel. It seemed very nice from the outside. It was originally a palace but was later sold to the Armenian church and was converted into a monastery.


The outside was nice, but inside it was kind of creepy. In the end the faculty of architecture here paid for everything, so I of course will not complain about a free trip to Venice. That being said, I never quite understood this mural in the dining area. Are they sacrificing babies to Mary? Take this as an indication of everything else that was on the inside. There was also an old, dark altar room and a room with a creepy old piano. I am convinced that the place is haunted and I made sure I drank a few more glasses of wine with dinner so I would fall right asleep and avoid any paranormal experiences...


The people I traveled with were swell.


Anyway, the purpose of our trip was to see the Biennale. The Biennale is a type of architectural exhibition that happens every two years in Venice. This year, the theme was architecture Out There. It was a little too abstract for me at times, but there were some very interesting planning exhibitions. This showed the new plan for Rome. They call it the "Pizza Plan". You can see why.



The point of the entire exhibition was to think beyond the spatial impacts of architecture. This part of the exhibit talked about the people that actually use new, "innovative" spaces that would be designed. I was a little surprised to find this description. The model says:

GLOBAL OPPORTUNIST
WORKS on being a student as long as possible.

LIVES wherever his studies take him.

CELEBRATES freedom

BELIEVES one day he will settle down. Maybe.

Hmmmm.....


This was an exhibition from the Danish Pavilion. It talked about the importance of sustainability in architecture and planning. The globe was an interesting presentation concept. The photos in the background are of many different geographic settings around the world. What made me laugh was how the Danes slammed Vancouver. Apparently, although Vancouver is supposedly an "eco-friendly" city, we would need four earths to sustain our living standards if everyone in the world lived the way people live in Vancouver.

Ouch.


For me, what was most interesting was the location of the exhibition. This is called the Arsenale. It was essentially the heart of Venice's naval empire. This is where most of the Venetian fleet was built and moored.




Everywhere you can see vestiges of the power this city once had.


This is the Saint Mark's Lion, the symbol of Venice. You see it literally everywhere. Propoganda is a lot older than we like to think.


Today, it is an interesting exhibition space. This was once a fuel room where the smell of kerosine still lingers in the air. It housed an exhibition on housing in Beijing.


We did have some free time as well...


and had an excellent dinner later in the evening. We kind of blew off the dinner planned for all the students in our group. I initially felt bad, especially when we had a run in with some of the professors who organized the trip right as we were escaping the scary dining room with the murals of sacrifices to some old Armenian godess. It was all worth it in the end, but I had a five minute ethics crisis especially after we were guilted by one of the professors..."well we did organize this to ALL be TOGETHER... but you are here one night so do what you want". Sorry, but boxed wine and blue plastic table cloths don't cut it when you have one night in Venice!


We also had enough time to walk around the island of "Gheto" where Venice's Jewish community was relocated during the Renaissance. Of course, the word "ghetto" derives from this neighborhood of the city. The island was fascinating and much more dense than the rest of the city.


The best part was when we found a small Jewish bakery.


My friend Karin and I, both Jewish-enthusiasts, spent a lot of money on freshly made matzoh and dreamed of American Jewish food during the holidays. I was horribly surprised when I mistook a gefelteh fish pastry for something made of figs.


Anyway, all and all it was an excellent weekend. I leave you with some scenic photos of the Serenissma...








and a quote from the Belgian pavilion to ponder.