Leaving Venice
(Written offline on May 24 at 11:30am Italy time, while riding on a train)
Oggi partiamo Venezia per Firenze. Today we are leaving Venice for Florence.
We finished our time in Venice with a few last stops. Mom, David and I went to the Leonardo da Vinci museum, featuring working models of many of his inventions. The ingenuity was impressive and inspiring. Some of the more interesting things I remember: a crane hook that was counterbalanced with a weight so that when the load was set on the ground, the hook would automatically disengage; a "safety crane" that held its load between a pair of tongs set up so that the heavier the weight, the more forcefully it was held in place; a lifting machine in which a large gear was turned by a screw—since the screw was in contact with several teeth at once, it put less force on each individual tooth, and if one tooth broke, the machine as a whole would still work; a bridge design that could be erected quickly using easy-to-transport materials such as short logs and ropes—good for military use; an animatronic suit of armor; machines that used ball bearings; machines for turning continuous rotational motion into alternating motion (sliding a piece back and forth a long a shaft) or regular percussive motion (as with a cam that drove the pounding of a hammer); and an automatic scythe—a war machine with four scythes that you would roll down a hill at your enemies. Here's a picture:
There was also a mirror room with six or eight mirrored walls; you would walk in and close the door and be surrounded by mirrors. Dave and I went in and he snapped a picture with us back to back:
On the way to the museum, we ran into the first guy who humored me in my attempts to speak the local language, a vaporetto driver who spoke Italian back to me even though it was obvious that I was an American. That was very nice of him. Incidentally, the Italian accent (when speaking English) is nothing like the stereotype (you know, "I-a think-a the spaghetti, it-a need-a more-a sauce-a.") There is a definite accent, but it's just what you'd expect: they pronounce their vowels more like Eurpoean vowels, flip their r's, etc.
That evening we went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Yes, Venice has a Chinatown. I was amused to see how Chinese dishes are translated into Italian. All the noodle dishes were listed as "spaghetti," and the dumplings were billed as "ravioli." I ordered zuppe agro-piccola (hot and sour soup), pollo alle mandorle (chicken with almonds), and a te cinese (Chinese tea). It was the first place I was able to get real tea—at other restaurants, the the freddo (iced tea) was basically Lipton Nestea out of a can—dissapointing. Incidentally, we haven't been impressed with the food yet, although we've heard that the cuisine is better in Florence and Rome than in Venice. (And we've been eating at the cheaper places. We'll get a nice dinner somewhere before the trip is over.)
Finally, we caught a concert in the evening by a Venetian jazz quartet: guitar, bass, drums, and vocalist. I wondered if we were going to hear Porter and Gershwin translated into Italian, but of course, the vocalist sang in English, except for a Jobim song or two, which I think were in the original Portuguese(?)
Overall, Venice was charming and relaxing, but somehow I feel it was just a novelty, almost a resort town, compared to how Florence and Rome will be. Tomorrow we have reservations at the Academmia, which houses Michelangelo's David—sure to be the highlight of the trip. We're also going to the Uffizi (another art museum) and to a science museum where you can see Galeleio's telescope. I can't help but feel that Venice was just a lovely overture to the trip, and now the curtain is going up on Act I. I'm looking forward to it.
PS: I know I'm misspelling some of the Italian here: specifically, I'm neglecting to add accents. Haven't quite figured out the HTML codes for them, and I'm trying to limit my time online.
PPS: Getting on the train was the first time that my Italian language skills (such as they are) were actually useful. When I looked at the ticket, I had noticed the word "carrozza" and realized we had an assigned train car. If it hadn't been for that, we probably would have gotten on some random car.
Oggi partiamo Venezia per Firenze. Today we are leaving Venice for Florence.
We finished our time in Venice with a few last stops. Mom, David and I went to the Leonardo da Vinci museum, featuring working models of many of his inventions. The ingenuity was impressive and inspiring. Some of the more interesting things I remember: a crane hook that was counterbalanced with a weight so that when the load was set on the ground, the hook would automatically disengage; a "safety crane" that held its load between a pair of tongs set up so that the heavier the weight, the more forcefully it was held in place; a lifting machine in which a large gear was turned by a screw—since the screw was in contact with several teeth at once, it put less force on each individual tooth, and if one tooth broke, the machine as a whole would still work; a bridge design that could be erected quickly using easy-to-transport materials such as short logs and ropes—good for military use; an animatronic suit of armor; machines that used ball bearings; machines for turning continuous rotational motion into alternating motion (sliding a piece back and forth a long a shaft) or regular percussive motion (as with a cam that drove the pounding of a hammer); and an automatic scythe—a war machine with four scythes that you would roll down a hill at your enemies. Here's a picture:
There was also a mirror room with six or eight mirrored walls; you would walk in and close the door and be surrounded by mirrors. Dave and I went in and he snapped a picture with us back to back:
On the way to the museum, we ran into the first guy who humored me in my attempts to speak the local language, a vaporetto driver who spoke Italian back to me even though it was obvious that I was an American. That was very nice of him. Incidentally, the Italian accent (when speaking English) is nothing like the stereotype (you know, "I-a think-a the spaghetti, it-a need-a more-a sauce-a.") There is a definite accent, but it's just what you'd expect: they pronounce their vowels more like Eurpoean vowels, flip their r's, etc.
That evening we went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Yes, Venice has a Chinatown. I was amused to see how Chinese dishes are translated into Italian. All the noodle dishes were listed as "spaghetti," and the dumplings were billed as "ravioli." I ordered zuppe agro-piccola (hot and sour soup), pollo alle mandorle (chicken with almonds), and a te cinese (Chinese tea). It was the first place I was able to get real tea—at other restaurants, the the freddo (iced tea) was basically Lipton Nestea out of a can—dissapointing. Incidentally, we haven't been impressed with the food yet, although we've heard that the cuisine is better in Florence and Rome than in Venice. (And we've been eating at the cheaper places. We'll get a nice dinner somewhere before the trip is over.)
Finally, we caught a concert in the evening by a Venetian jazz quartet: guitar, bass, drums, and vocalist. I wondered if we were going to hear Porter and Gershwin translated into Italian, but of course, the vocalist sang in English, except for a Jobim song or two, which I think were in the original Portuguese(?)
Overall, Venice was charming and relaxing, but somehow I feel it was just a novelty, almost a resort town, compared to how Florence and Rome will be. Tomorrow we have reservations at the Academmia, which houses Michelangelo's David—sure to be the highlight of the trip. We're also going to the Uffizi (another art museum) and to a science museum where you can see Galeleio's telescope. I can't help but feel that Venice was just a lovely overture to the trip, and now the curtain is going up on Act I. I'm looking forward to it.
PS: I know I'm misspelling some of the Italian here: specifically, I'm neglecting to add accents. Haven't quite figured out the HTML codes for them, and I'm trying to limit my time online.
PPS: Getting on the train was the first time that my Italian language skills (such as they are) were actually useful. When I looked at the ticket, I had noticed the word "carrozza" and realized we had an assigned train car. If it hadn't been for that, we probably would have gotten on some random car.
posted by Jason Crawford at 4:48 PM
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