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| VENEZIA |
The week before I
flew off to Cape Town, my very good friend Geoffrey Chown came for a visit.
Geoffrey is responsible for me being here in Italy. He helped me pack in my final frantic hours
in Toronto, and then calmly drove me to the airport. And many months before I actually departed,
in a moment of complete anxiety over whether I should take my sabbatical or
not, I phoned Geoffrey and told him what was on my mind. As good friends do, he
listened to me talk and by the end of a very one-sided conversation, it was
clear that the sabbatical was really the best thing I could do. I remember
Geoffrey said little that day – he’s that kind of friend. So, I was very much looking forward spending
a week with him.
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| Geoffrey arriving in Firenze, not one bit jet-lagged! |
We had a whirlwind
week, and because Venezia is one of Geoffrey’s favourite cities, and because he
was here during Carnivale, and because going to Carnivale in Venezia in
February is something that I’ve always wanted to do but wouldn’t because of the
weather and all, and because I hadn’t been to Venice in 10 years, we decided to
hop on a train and see what all the hoopla was about.
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| Geoffrey at our pensione. |
Well, Carnivale
in Venezia is certainly something to experience. We arrived on the Sunday before the finale on
the Tuesday, so things were in full-swing.
Geoffrey quite rightly summed it all up: “It’s a freak show!” and indeed
it was. Other than the summer time,
Venice during Carnivale is FULL of people. Scary people. The tourists were mostly German and French,
given the languages we were hearing on the streets, with a few smatterings of
Asians and Americans (and two lonely Canadians!) Everyone was in a party mood, from morning to
night, and action central was definitely Piazza San Marco. A large stage was
erected at the west-end of the Piazza and it seemed to have something occurring
hourly.
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| Piazza San Marco, looking west. |
Napoleon
Buonaparte called Piazza San Marco the “living room” of Europe, and indeed it
is when the weather is nice and it’s not completely overrun with tourists. During
Carnivale, Piazza San Marco becomes a STAGE!
The designers of the Procuratie
Nuove – the lovely 3-story office building (finished in 1640) that makes up
part of the Piazza – cleaverly included 3 steps along the arcade to
ever-so-slightly elevate the building.
And it was on these steps that you got a real sense of what Carnivale
was all about: great costumes, and serious (and I do mean serious) posing.
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She's saying: not another picture, please!
He's saying: where's the camera? |
Some Venetians
take getting dressed up for Carnivale very seriously. Having an elegant, period
costume is essential. But the most fun
(for this tourist, anyway) was watching how seriously people in costume posed
to have their pictures taken. There was
not a camera that they did not like, and the more people taking pictures the
better (think media-hungry B-list celebrity and the paparazzi.) If you even looked like you might like to
take their picture, they would stop, strike a pose, and sure enough, others
would soon follow suit. More cameras; more costumes; more posing. It was all very amusing. And the best show in town was on the steps of
the Procuratie Nouve.
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| This Dandy LOVES the camera! |
Geoffrey made
another salient observation about Carnivale in Venice: “It’s like Halloween for Europeans.” So, amid a sea of elegantly dressed Venetians
in period costumes, there would be someone dressed up as Superman, or Snoopy,
or Squarebob Spongepants. I think we saw
every type of costume going and it just seemed to underline Geoffrey’s first
observation.
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| Everyone has a mask at Carnivale - even the portraits in art galleries! |
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| Geoffrey in a mask. |
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| Yours truly, in maschera |
The mood in
Venice during Carnivale is very festive and happy, probably because half the
people on the streets had a bit too much to drink at lunch, so it’s actually a
fun time to be there. And speaking of drinking, Geoffrey had a few euros
courtesy of one Mrs. Carol Chown (his mother.) As she said, “it’s to treat yourself to a nice
drink somewhere,” so Geoffrey and I experienced a unique Venetian tradition: cicchetti. Cicchetti
is the Venetian version of aperitivi,
popular throughout Italy, which is an after work or pre-dinner drink, usually with
a bit of food. A cicchetto is literally a quick drink or a “nip”, as in, “I’ll have
a nip of vino,” and that’s what cicchetti
is all about. You go out around 7 or 7:30pm, find a bar, have a small glass of
wine or other spirit, select a few appetizers, and stand around for 10 or 15
minutes eating and drinking, then leave.
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| Geoffrey took this picture of yours truly, at a cicchetti bar. |
Geoffrey and I
were on a mission to experience exactly how cicchetti
worked, so we found a great bar just down the canal from our pensione, and
stayed for more than one drink. It was loads of fun, and as one does on
holiday, Geoffrey pondered what it would take to open up a cicchetti bar in Toronto. I’ll keep you posted.
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| Geoffrey in Venezia |
Other highlights
of Venice included wandering the streets and canals, watching guests arrive by
boat at a grand Venetian Carnivale Ball which was happening across the canal
from our pensione, travelling about the Grand Canal by boat, and just
experiencing Carnivale for the first, and perhaps, last time.
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| Geoffrey on the train coming home - whew! |
Geoffrey and I
were like sharks while he was here – always on the go. We hosted a luncheon for
my friend Sue N, who was travelling through Firenze on her way back from a
mission in Uganda. We had aperitivi on several occasions, one of
which was to say goodbye to Natalia L, who was leaving Firenze for a six-week
stay in Paris.
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Geoffrey's behind the camera:
Maria, Me, Natalia & Sue - post-luncheon. |
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| Geoffrey post-Aperitivi @ Open Bar, with Maria, Natalia & Me. |
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| Geoffrey in Piazza della Signoria, Firenze, playing tourist & eating gelato. |
We also went to Roma for
Geoffrey’s last day, and stayed overnight with my friend Anna (grazie mille!) It
was a beautiful day and we strolled to the Vatican and soaked up Piazza San Pietro.
And then the week was finished and we said our goodbyes at the airport. Fun!
Fun! Fun!
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| Geoffrey at the Roma airport, saying arrivederci Italia |
The post-script
to this story is that all the while we were having fun in Italy, Mrs. Carol
Chown was sick in the hospital in Kingston. She spent 10 days in hospital and
was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It
is an unsettling and indeed sad situation for the Chown family and all those
that know Carol, myself included. Needless
to say, Geoffrey and sister Sally are quite rightly spending lots of time with
Carol and setting up the needed supports.
Luckily, she’s not facing this cancer journey alone, but it is
devastating news nonetheless.
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| Geoffrey on the steps of the Convento di San Francesco in Fiesole. |
