I’m not going to say a lot about the town of Lugano, other then that it was another beautiful city.  One interesting thing about Lugano, is that it is an Italian speaking town.  This might not sound strange if the town wasn’t located in Switzerland.  The climate in Lugano is Mediterranean and so you see palmtrees all other the place.  Also, the other trees that you see are huge!

Something else that we saw in Lugano were the shops.  For instance, take a look at these delicious shrimp and different types of cheese that were on display!  I had to restrain myself from jumping into the storage bin!

We left Lugano at 7 this morning. We had to get up at 6:00, baggage out by 6:30. Outside, a beautiful mist was rising over the entire landscape. Our hotel was situated on a hill overlooking Lake Lugano and parts of the city.

Our drive to Venice went very smoothly. We did get stuck in a little rush hour traffic but eventually got clear of it. Today, Friday, Italy has a national holiday. Our guide told us some interesting statistics about Italians. For instance, a very large percentage of Italian men don’t get married until they are about 35 years old. Until then, they live at home with their parents, in particularly, mother (mama). Everyday, each male will try to return home to visit their mother at least once. So this culture seems to have developed a very strong connection to their mothers. They treat their mothers better than their wives (as the story goes)!

On the way to Venice, we past the town of Varona where the story of Romeo and Juliet was set. We didn’t stop, but apparently you can visit Juliet’s veranda and pose beside her statute. It’s a huge attraction for Chinese tourists. There is also a large amphitheater in the town where they hold operas during the summer.

One thing about Venice, is you need to watch out for pickpockets. A couple of people warned us and told us to keep our bags in front of us because they often walk behind you and cut you bag open with a knife. Before you know it, they are gone with all your stuff. Well, we stopped at a little wayside snack bar for a quick break and a snack and somebody from another tour group almost got robbed. The man was walking out of the washroom when he felt a hand in his pocket. He quickly reached back and grabbed the persons hand just as he was about to pull 800 Euro from his back pocket. Needless to say, there was quick a lot of excitement among their group. People were all coming by to congratulate the man on saving his money. You’ve never seen a man with a more relieved look on his face then this man!

Oh, buying something in Italy is a little different from at home. First, you need to make your way towards the cashier. This is not as simple as it might sound. Their lines are very unorganized. There is always a lot of shuffling and jumping in and out of the line. People are yelling back and forth over each other, and your head. Finally, when you get to the cashier, you tell her what you want to buy, you pay for it and they give you a receipt. You take your receipt to the next counter where they then give you your stuff. Of course, the whole time, you are being nudged and crowded from all sides. It’s easy to see why pickpockets have such a nice time working the crowds. You can get a little paranoid every time somebody bumps you.

Wow, Venice is quite the city. First, you drive to the outskirts of Venice and then you have to head to the “bus station” of Venice boats. There, you stand in line, behind the other bus lines, and wait for your boat to arrive. By boat, it took us about 5 minutes to drive to the city center of Venice. All along the way, we passed these huge cruise ships and sailboats. Ancient looking buildings seem to rise out of the water. We arrived at the Venice unloading dock in sweltering heat. Everybody was sweating and wishing they had brought more water!

Our guide first made sure we were oriented. She took us to St. Mark’s Square (the biggest square in Venice). There you find the tall bell tower which you can see from many places in Venice. This was our safety mark. If lost, look up! This is also where you find the world’s largest pigeon population.  In Venice, you find 4.5 pigeons for every person! They are everywhere and they are also very aggressive.  It wasn’t unusual to have a pigeon fly by so close that it almost brushed your face!

Next, we headed off to meet our Venice tour guide.

Because of all the different tours going on, and the huge crowds, our guide gave us all earplugs and a radio receiver. There were two reasons for this. First, it would be hard listening to our guide while trying to weave through the crowded streets. Secondly, when touring the churches, we are only allowed to whisper.

The guide also carried a stick with tassels attached to the end so we could follow her in the crowd. She did an exceptional job of guiding us though the streets and providing us with a constant stream of information. For instance, she gave us a little history lesson on Venice.

Venice came into existence after the collapse of the Roman empire. The people needed a safe place to hide and protect themselves. So, they decided to go out and build a city in the swamp. After years of experiments, the Venetians hit upon a method which has proved very successful. They found out that if they pressed trees down into the mud (vertically), similar to our house pillars they could add a lot of weight. After this, they simply pressed down trees, and then build huge buildings. But, how come the tree trunks don’t rot away. Well, it is really very simple. The trunks, which are buried in the mud, aren’t exposed to oxygen. In addition, the salt water helps preserve the trunks. When you see the amazing size of most of these buildings, you can’t help put marvel that all they are sitting on is the vertically stumps of trees. Mind you, you can see that some of the buildings have shifted. As a matter of fact, the tall bell tower came crashing down during the night many years ago. Because it didn’t kill anybody, the Merchants of Venice decided it deserved a second change and had a new one built.

Our guide took us down a couple of narrow streets towards St. Mark’s square. As you enter St. Mark square from the waterside, you notice two very tall pillars with strange. One pillar commemorates St. Theodor and the other St. Mark both who are the patron saints of Venice. The begs the question why two saints? The answer, apparently, is simple. Who is St. Theodor? Not a very well known saint. Supposedly, he killed some dragon (evil) and so was sainted. However, the Venetians wanted a more powerful saint. So, they arranged to “borrow” the body of saint Mark who died in Egypt and was buried in Constantinople. Supposedly, a couple of merchants stole his body and hid it in a box with pork on top. This way, they apparently got through the Turkish check stop without any problem.

St. Mark’s church is by far the most elaborate church we’ve visited yet. We weren’t allowed to take pictures on the inside which is too bad. The entire ceiling was covered with the most amazing paintings. Starting from the entrance, you had the entire stories of the old Testament. In addition, the front part of the church was lower and as you want into the church, you rose up higher. This too was symbolic. First, you have to approach the New Testament through the Old. As you progress through the Old into the New, you rise up to higher levels of knowledge and understanding. Another amazing thing about the ceiling was that it was covered in gold leaflet. Thousands and thousands of small gold tiles were added to the paintings so that they sparkled and glowed. This was also symbolic. Heaven is light (knowledge). So you have to look upwards to see the “light of the world”.

When walking through the church, you were so busy looking up, that you could easily miss the wonder under your feet. The floor of St. Mark’s church was stunning as well. Each section was unique and were a mosaic of colour. I’ve never seen this many different colours of marble. It was incredible!! Also, the floor was rounded and heaving in places. This is because some of the tree trunks underneath have shifted over time. So the floor is uneven as you walk. However, they are working at stabilizing everything.

Another interesting thing about St. Mark’s church is that no pillars are the same. In any section, you have at least 3 to 4 different coloured pillars. Why is this, one wonders? It looks good, but does seem strange. Well, the answer lies many centuries back. During the crusades, the Venetians went along as traders. While in the holy land, they apparently “traded” or help themselves to any of the wonderful things they saw. Literally, the stripped the Holy land: pillars, statues, etc. Everything was brought back to Venice and used in the construction of the church. Another instance of this, are the four bronze horses one sees adorning the main entrance to the church. Both of these were also “borrowed” them from Constantinople in 1204. Any guide book will say they were “gifted”, but our guide assured us that the Venetians generally took what they wanted. So, this is why the church is so wonderful, it really is a collection of artifacts from different parts of the world which were masterfully crafted together to create a most amazing monument to man’s ingenuity. I’m not quite sure if it was build to honer God or man. But then, a church is only a building, what counts is the heart you bring into it when you enter its front doors. I would gladly have spent the entire day in the church, but that was not possible. Because of the large number of tourists (4 million each year), you are not allowed to stop within the church. You have to keep moving. There was a slight lull in the traffic, so our wonderful guide allowed us to stop while she pointed out further amazing features of the church. Truly this church should be considered one of the wonders of the world!

Our next stop was a Venetian glass blowing factory. Again, we were not allowed to take any pictures. I would have loved to share some of this amazing work (Internet pictures) with you all, but I was a good tourist and left my camera in my pocket.

Glass Horse

Talk about craftsmanship! Each piece was amazing! The colours and shapes were unbelievable (Internet). That these were blow and not formed is often hard to believe. But, we were able to watch a demonstration where one of their craftsmen made a vase. Absolutely brilliant! I was allowed to take pictures of this and I videoed most of the process. I’ll try to add a video clip, but it has not worked in the past!

Bridge of Sighs

I had a wonderful talk with one of the master craftsmen. He lamented the fact that the art of “Venetian” glassblowing is a dying trade. It takes 30 to 40 years to become a master glassblower. He said that their young men are refusing to take up the apprenticeship. Instead, they want to sit around outside in the shade or drive the gondolas up and down the canals. He was very said about this. Many of the glassware they sell at cost just to try to help spread awareness of the art form. For the first time in centuries, the glassblowing schools are open to anyone who wants to learn. In earlier times, many countries tried to steal the trade by hiring the workers away. In cases like this, the Venetians sent assassins to kill the tradesman. No more! Now they are glad to share the trade with whoever is willing to learn. But, it takes a lot of dedication to learn the trade.

There are many other things I could write about this wonderful city, but the post would be come so long that people would get tired of reading it! So, I’ll stop there.

Oh, one more thing. The hotels on this trip have been wonderful and very fancy. For instance, the last one even had this really wonderful foot washer in the bathroom. Mind you, it was so close to the toilet, that it was hard to use!! lol

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