Carnevale

Hello everyone! Please excuse this gargantuan e-mail, but I have exciting tales to tell of my journey to Venice from this last weekend. A little background first: I am taking a class on Commedia dell'Arte, a 500 year old form of professional Italian theatre that uses stock characters in an improvised setting to create some rather entertaining fun times. Commedia rose out of the tradition of Carnival which takes place in the weeks before lent. SO, last weekend, the city of Venice launched its Carnevale and our class was strongly encouraged to attend. After much complicated organization, we were ready to go, and last Saturday, we began our journey. The Trip:

5:40am Saturday---begin 6 hour bus/train journey to Venice
11:30am or so -- arrive in Venice, Italy, exhausted and completely in awe of this ancient but living wonder of water and spectacle. After arriving, my eyes did not cease to bulge in wonder for the next 18 hours. We shopped up and down the pedestrian occupied streets for hours, gawking at the endless Murano glass treasures, lace everything and decked out gondoliers. We walked and walked, ultimately attempting to find the grand Piazza del San Marco where the big party was to happen. The signs were comic: many places there would be a sign saying “S. Marco” with arrows pointing in both directions below. Ah, the wonder of Venice never ceases to baffle. Eventually, after creeping through the tiniest of vicolos (little alleyways) and over seemingly endless canals, we arrived at San Marco's. At most other times of the year, St. Mark's square (Anglicized here for your convenience) is flooded as Venice is, indeed, sinking. Fortunately for us, they pump out the water for Carnevale and we could enjoy St. Marks as dry as we liked. The cathedral itself was wondrous, but even it was overshadowed by the spectacle of Carnevale costumes, face painters, expansive grand architecture and the sheer number of people. Though there were numerous Italians in the crowd, the flocks of Japanese tourists, small swarms of reincarnated hippies, and various other groups of foreigners overwhelmed the square. We watched the parade of the masks while perched on a fence in front of San Marco's Cathedral, got our faces painted, and then split up for dinner. My wee group headed on one of the water buses to another less touristy island where we were treated to fine food and crabby service. We took the water bus back in time to enjoy a cappuccino before dancing in the streets with a moving drum group for about an hour. We moved from music scene to music scene in different parts of Venice for a few hours, but we soon realized that the Venetians are intelligent people who plan indoor parties for the late night. By midnight, there were hundreds of foreigners running around looking for the non-existent party. We, too, acknowledged the end of our day of Carnevale and headed for the train station. A quick note about our planning: we had expected to be up rather late having a riotous good time in Venice, and could not book a hostel or hotel room, so heading back to the train station at 1:00am meant that we would have to entertain ourselves for six hours while we waited for our train.
1:00am, Sunday--Our group of 12 arrives at the train station. We sit for a while, walk around a bit, dance a little, sing a little, realize we are very tired, and dance a little more.
4:00am--Joanne calls Alex for fun 5:45am--we all watch the minutes flip by on the departures board...5:46....flip....5:47...
6:00am--the coffee bar opens in the station where we immediately flock to get warm and stock up on caffeine. Just so you know, there are no chairs in Italian coffee bars. You should have seen us trying to support ourselves without functioning legs.
7:00am--we board our train, see soft green benches, and fall immediately asleep.
7:22am--the train actually begins to move, waking us from our stupor. 8:00am--my friend wakes up in a fright and says “why are we in Pisa!?” To which we all mutter “we are not even in Bologna yet. Go to sleep!” ...following two train changes...
1:15pm, Sunday--we arrive back to the hostel and immediately begin napping. We were home.


So that was Venice. It passed in quite a blur, but it was stunning to say the least. I wish you could see this place everyone. What a wondrous world, this Italy. I am having a great time and would love to hear from those of you who remain incognito. I will try to write again next week as I am spending the weekend in Naples and Pompeii. I must be going, but say hello to each other for me!

Cheers,

Joanne