Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. We hope you are having a wonderful day and will have lots to eat. Of course, we won�t be having any turkey or stuffing, but I�m sure lasagna will feature in the mail somewhere. So make sure to eat lots of food for us.
Venice is an amazing city. The canals give it a romantic feel, and the complete lack of motorized vehicles (aside from boats on the Grand Canal) provide an otherworldy silence that envelopes every day here. This is my second trip, and I will definitely be returning. In fact, of all the cities we have seen, Venice captivates me the most. Riding the bus means getting on a boat. Going to dinner means eating seafood you can�t identify. Tourists abound, but the city still feels quintessentially Italian. In other words, this is the perfect city to end our time in Italy.
The room is amazing � probably the best room we have stayed in the entire trip. We aren�t staying in the center of the city, but we are just a few vaporetto (water bus) stops from the central square, and the trip only takes about ten minutes. We have spent the last couple days walking around the city and sampling her sights. And no city is better for walking than Venice. I even took the opportunity last night to get �lost� in the back alleys and find some pretty amazing little piazzas every now and then.
The central square in Venice is dominated by St. Mark�s Cathedral. The building combines Christian and Byzantine architecture and holds probably the best examples of Byzantine art we have seen since the Aya Sofia in Istanbul. Imagine stepping inside a building whose ceilings are dominated by gold-background mosaics depicting various religious scenes. The whole thing sparkles, emphasizing the power and might of heaven, in stark contrast to the lower parts of the church, which are decorated with drab marble.
Now just a word about art. Anyone not interested in Art History discussion can just skip ahead to the next paragraph, OK? Every time I read or hear about art, the Byzantine style is described as flat, emotionless, and intellectually and artistically inferior to the following Renaissance. But I have a confession to make: I am a fan of Byzantine art. The artists then weren�t concerned with perspective or realism. They were trying to portray concepts and stories (and with them a little faith) to the illiterate masses that flocked around the pictures. They adorned enormous buildings and put forth immense effort, all in an attempt to help the faith. And that is admirable. And, to me, the figures seem purer than their mathematically correct followers from the Renaissance. Not to say that Renaissance art isn�t fabulous � it is � but I am always drawn toward the Byzantine.
Inside St. Mark�s Cathedral, we saw a room of reliquaries. Of course, these are always fun, so here�s what we saw: the arm bone of St. George, various pieces of the true cross, a piece of the Crown of Thorns, and a slab of the pillar Jesus was tied to when he was tortured. And the Venetians have at least some claim to the authenticity of their relics. In the fourth century, Constantine�s mother traveled to the Holy Land and rescued lots of holy relics, which she brought to Constantinople to be shared with the masses. They stayed there until the Venetians sacked the city and brought them to Venice. That has been their home for the past 800 years (give or take). They are paraded through the city on every Good Friday. But the authenticity of their survival for the first 400 years is questionable at best. Like I have said before, though, it�s just fun to think about�
Anyway, this email has gotten way too long, and all of you have family and football to attend to. Take care of yourselves. And if you have just a little extra time, check out the photos I have uploaded from Venice.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Paul and Colleen
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