Nature, travel, pets, home renovation, and geekery
My cruise, which started in Venice, arrived in Pula, Croatia today. We started the day visiting an amazingly intact Roman amphitheater. It was gorgeous, and we could just wander around looking at all the details. It is still used as a concert venue. Parts of it have been reconstructed.
I have been to Venice once before this trip. It was probably 20 years ago, and I was with my family in Venice for a day or so. I remember Piazzo San Marco and bridges. We took the train there. That is for the most part what I remember. I do remember getting lost at one point. However, I once read that you have not truly visited Venice until you have been lost in Venice.
Today was my last day in Venice. We took a walking tour with our guide and visited a few sites, and then we had some free time before we had to be back at the hotel to then go to our ship. My friend and I looked in a few shops and bought a few items, and then we walked a bit. We didn’t really have anywhere else we wanted to go, and we had a couple of hours. After we had walked a little, we started seeing signs for “alla ferrovia” (to the train station). We knew how to get from the train station to our hotel, so instead of taking the water bus back to the hotel, we decided just to start walking to the train station. I was sure we would eventually see something familiar, and we would not have to walk all the way to the train station. However, we had plenty of time, and both of us thought a walk would be nice, so we started walking. We walked leisurely and looked in shops along the way. At one point, we looked inside a shop and recognized some magnets that are handmade by the artisan who we visited yesterday who makes forculas for gondolas. I thought some other shop must sell his little trinkets. [I bought one yesterday. They are nice, unique trinkets.] My friend said no, I think this is his shop. I said no, we are no where near his shop how can that be. Then we both saw his dog. I still could not believe we were at this shop, so I wondered why his dog was in someone’s else’s shop. Then he appeared. We waved and said hi and spoke for minute to also say hi to the dog. I am still not sure how we went by his shop. We kept following the signs to the ferrovia, and we made it there, but not by a common route to our hotel. We went back via the route we knew to our hotel and got back in plenty of time. We probably took the longest route back to our hotel possible without crossing Canal Grande. I feel like I have now really been to Venice.
Now, I am on my cruise ship leaving Venice, and I only really got a taste of this wonderful city. I hope to return one day, and I hope the city is still around for me to return to one day.
In Venice, on top of the old German Warehouse, which is now an upscale shopping center, is a terrace on the roof. From it, there are outstanding views of Venice. Unfortunately, when we visited, there was still quite a bit of fog, but the views were still lovely.
I am somewhat obsessed with the infrastructure of Venice, including transport. There are no cars, nor any other powered land-based vehicles. Everything is transported by land on foot or water by a boat of some type. Everyone gets around by foot or boat. I am unclear how the firefighters get the hoses to a fire. However, I was lucky enough to see the garbage boat in action taking a garbage basket that a garbage worker had brought to the canal.
Piazza San Marco is the big tourist area in Venice. It is where the Palazzo Ducale (Doge’s Palace) and Basilica di San Marco are among other photogenic spots. It is also the spot that is always photographed when Venice floods. They have the parts for the platforms for people to walk on placed strategically around Venice for when acqua alta arrives. The basilica is one of the lowest parts of Venice, and some tiny amount of water was present around the basilica when I was there. [The flooding essentially comes from below the buildings. It does not come from shores exactly.] I was able to wander around the area on two different days, which is why differing weather conditioning can be seen in the photos below.
Today in Venice was Gondola Day. We started the day by going to a place where they make gondolas, restore old ones, and do maintenance on them. Then we went to a shop where they make certain pieces for the gondolas. We followed it up with a gondola ride through some canal with musicians.
First, we went to Squero Tramontin (Domenico Tramontin e Figli) where they make new gondolas, restore old ones, and do maintenance on currently used ones. The company is currently owned by two sisters, who inherited it from their father. It has been a family business for five generations, since 1884. Elena Tramontin explained to us how they make a gondola and the history of them. Originally gondolas were used for everything in Venice including police, ambulance, etc. They were also originally operated by two gondoliers, but the shape was changed so that one gondolier can operate it. All gondolas are completely flat bottom, and in fact all boats that operate in Venice’s lagoon are flat bottom. The gondolas only need 10 cm of water depth. They are made of mahogany, cherry, and oak. The wood is dried naturally and needs about a year too dry. The wood is bent with water and fire. They are coated with six coats of paint, and finished with 24 carat gold leaf accents. It takes about five to six months to complete one. The government decreed that all gondolas be black centuries ago. The edging was brass, but now steel is used. The counterweight at the front is iron and has symbolic meaning (see photo below). The gondolas are built to last 30 years, but they need maintenance every 50 days or so to remove barnacles and such. However, in the shop when we visited were much older gondolas.
After visiting the squero, we then visited an artisan who makes some of the special wooden pieces for the gondola including the all important forcula. They are made by hand. He now sells more of them around the world as art pieces than as their historical use in gondolas. He has another shop on the mainland, where once he acquires wood, he cuts it into smaller pieces and allows it to dry naturally. Each forcula is built specific to the customer, based on customer height and such. The pieces are finished with oil. The bottom part of the forcula is finished last once the gondola is built, so that is fits securely into the gondola.
We then went for a gondola ride, and I started paying attention to how it was operated. The gondola ride was quite nice and relaxing.
A few final notes. There are 433 licenses for gondoliers, and only one is held by a woman. There is a waiting list to get one. We were told there are about 500 gondolas working now, which numerically doesn’t add up. We were told there are extra for loaners during maintenance. However, since we were told they are made specific to the gondolier, I am not sure how loaners work.
Today was my first full day in Venice for this trip. The day started with a walking tour by a local guide, who lives in Venice. We wondered through streets that I would have gotten completely lost in by myself. The guide pointed out not just how confusing the streets were in terms of layout, but also how they were named so unhelpfully. There are many streets who are named “field by the church” or “way to the sacristy”, but the streets never clarify which church they are near. The afternoon included a glass making demonstration and a walking tour near and including the Jewish ghetto. The original ghetto is in Venice. According to our guide the name comes from “ghèto“, which means foundry in Venetian, because the ghetto was founded near a foundry because when they decided to segregate the Jewish people in the 1500s, they forced them to live near land no one wanted live by. The tour that included the history of the ghetto, was perhaps the most fascinating part of today.
I arrived in Venice, Italy for the start of my vacation in Italy and Croatia. After my plane landed at Marco Polo Venice airport, we were taken by van to essentially the other side fo the airport by the tour group with which we are traveling. From there, we boarded a small boat that is one of many that operate as water taxis. The boat took us directly to our hotel. Not a bad way to travel.
I am completely jet-lagged, but I walked around a bit to try to stay awake and get more tired, so I can get a really good night’s sleep tonight. I once read that you have not really been to Venice, until you have gotten lost there. I did not in fact get lost today, but there were a couple of times where I could have easily gotten lost. Venice is a series of twisting, narrow and wide, alleys and streets that intersect constantly in non-uniform manners. However, it is lovely here and so unique.
I have had pets before I adopted my three kittens. I am used to not being allowed to use the toilet by myself. Cats. Dogs. All feel they need to accompany me to the toilet. I have never been clear on why.
However before these three kittens, I accepted that. Before these three kittens, if I need to go to my bathroom for whatever reason, I just went. I very likely would have an entourage, but other than that, I just entered my bathroom to use the toilet, brush my teeth, take a shower, etc. Now entering my bathroom is a production. The cats have been banned from my bathroom. The door is kept shut at all times, and this makes it an entire production when I need to open the door to get in or out.
The cats have been banned from the bathroom mainly because of Orlando. I didn’t like it when they jumped to the bathroom counter, but I did’t get that annoyed. However, soon after Orlando got big enough to jump to the counter, he started turning everything into a toy. I went through three toothbrushes in a week because I kept finding them on the floor or in his mouth. The brush end was in his mouth. I moved the cup that holds the toothbrush to a shelf he couldn’t reach, and then he went after the flossers, which I keep in a cup besides the sink. I found flossers all over the house. Thus, they all lost bathroom entry privileges.
Now the problem is me getting in or out of the bathroom. Obviously because they can’t go in there anymore, it is now the most exciting room in the house. Orlando normally waits by the door, especially in the mornings when I am just getting out of bed or ready for work. I keep my phone in the bathroom at night, so it can recharge. I also use it as my alarm clock, and I need to have my alarm clock in a location that requires me to get out of bed, or I will simply turn it off and go back to sleep. Therefore, every morning, my alarm clock goes off, and Orlando sits and waits by the bathroom floor. It is dark, and I am drowsy and stiff. Inevitably, he will run inside, then I have get a hold of his squirmy self, snooze the alarm, and carry him back to bed. Then the routine is repeated when the alarm goes off again. Sometimes Rosalind joins in the fun, so I have to round up two squirmy cats who generally lie belly up to make picking them up all the more difficult. Oliver is the only somewhat well behaved cat.
Then when I am going into the bathroom to actually do something other than snooze my alarm, after they run in, I have to pick up the cat or cats, put them on the bed or the ground, then run back into the bathroom faster than them. Normally they are faster, so the entire routine starts anew. Generally it is easier for me to put them on the ground, while I am still in the bathroom with the door closed as much as possible, so I can quickly close the door between the cats and I. This still fails at times. Often three attempts are required for me to be in the bathroom by myself.
I have left Orlando in the bathroom after I snooze the alarm. I shut him in and go back to bed for five minutes because I hate mornings. By the time my alarm goes off again, and I enter the bathroom, Orlando is happily playing with a flosser.
All of this, so I can use the toilet or brush my hair. Life is rather complicated with cats.
I have moved three times as an adult. The first time my new employer payed for me to move. Nicely, this included two stops, so they picked up my stuff at my mom’s house in Houston, then my stuff in my apartment in College Station where I had been pursuing my Master’s, and then moved everything to Austin. The next two times I moved, I paid. The first was to North Carolina where I was going back to school to earn my Doctorate. The final time I have moved, it was from North Carolina to Virginia to start my new career. My new employer did not pay for me to move. That was unfortunately part of the hiring deal because for whom I work. For both times I paid to move myself, I knew months in advance of the move. [With the second time, it was really a guess that I was going to find a job that most likely was not near where I lived.] Thus, I spent months critically going through my house getting rid of stuff I really did not need or want. Sometimes that was admitting to myself that as much as I loved my grandmother, I really did not need such and such knickknack or other thing she had bought me. I refused to pay to move stuff I really did not need or want. Getting rid of stuff was good. It felt good. My house looked better. Less stuff to dust.
So now here I am in Virginia for almost nine years. (!) I have no plans to go anywhere. I like it here, and I don’t want to move. However, I realize I have somehow accumulated more stuff that I don’t need or want. Over the years I have gotten rid of some stuff. I donated some clothes a few times. I trashed some stuff. But still there is stuff. I want to do a bit of redecorating, but I need to clear some space first.
I think part of the issue is that I realize my tastes change. I wear different types of clothes then I used to. To a certain extent, I dress a little more professionally than when I was a full time student, but also just my tastes have changed. I have never been fashionable, but it simply that my tastes have changed. I wear different types of jewelry than I used to. I don’t like big or really dangly earrings anymore. I also can’t wear big or dangly earrings in the winter because they tend to catch the scarves I am always wearing when it is cold. Even though I still go out to the theater a lot, I tend to go on weeknights straight from work, so I wear work clothes. I don’t get dressed up just for the theater.
Then there are purses. I used to love to have tons of purses that I would change with my outfits. I liked small purses, just big enough for my wallet and a few things. Now I have one medium purse that I use all the time. I need a durable purse that is big enough for a normal sized book, because I always have a book with me. Thus, I realize I have way, way too many purses. Some are just plain too small. Some are too big. Some someone gave me, and it doesn’t quite work for me. Some I just don’t like anymore. Some though I bought not so much to wear but because they are practically works of art. If I have too many of those though, I can’t see or find any of them.
Oh and then the shoes. I have always restricted myself to comfortable shows. I don’t wear high heels. I have a few weaknesses though. However, I walk everywhere now, so shoes really have to be comfortable. Even my dress up shoes need to be comfortable because there will be walking between public transit and the theater.
So it’s New Year’s Day. I have the day off, and I have decided to start the year right by ruthlessly going through my stuff and getting rid of stuff. I am not going anywhere, but I really don’t need this much stuff. It is clutter. It collects dust. It has been somewhat distressing and at the same time cleansing to realize I have 15 purses collecting dust that I have not worn in a very long time or ever. I have nine pairs of earrings that I am never going to wear again. There is other stuff of course, but those are the worst offenders. I am resolving to donate all this stuff to charity this month. Get it out of the house. Someone will probably appreciate the stuff I no longer want.
The bigger and harder resolution though is not collect so much stuff. I think I have started getting better about really questioning myself if I want or need something. Also before buying I try to figure out where it will go. Lately when traveling, I have started to buy fewer but more exceptional pieces when I travel. No more crappy t-shirts and knickknacks but instead a beautiful handmade table runner or pashmina or an original painting.
So there is my New Year’s Resolution: less stuff. Get rid of stuff I have that I don’t want or need. Accumulate less stuff in the future.