VENEZIA, GIORNA 1

The first day in Venice started out a bit chilly and a bit hazy (literally, so don't get any ideas), but there was hope fun sunshine later on so I think we were all in high spirits. That and we could smell the ocean. 

We started off the day with a walking tour through most of Venice, but not hitting any of the touristy spots, which I was alright with since I'm trying to study architecture and not tourism. Of course we hit some regular tourist spots, it's a bit inevitable in Italy, but we didn't stay too long in those places.

This was the first view we had on the Ponte dell'Accadamia, spanning one of the main canals in Venice. Even with the haze it gave me excited jitters.

We had to move through the city pretty fast to follow our guide, but not fast enough that I couldn't creep on my friends. 

Back to serious architecture things, ergg! Our first real stop was the Querini Stampalia Foundation by Carlo Scapa (you guys will definitely get a comprehensive education on Scarpa from this trip). It was basically a palazzo that Scarpa edited so that when the waters raise too much, there is still a raised pathway to walk on. It also the creates an entirely different space within the building, since you're essentially forced onto this pre-determined island.

This is a view of a set of actually functional (at one time) doors, so a boat can pull up right to the palazzo and you can enter or exit. 

Next we stopped in Piazza San Marco on our way to the Olivetti Showroom.

Despite the signs to not feed the pigeons, people were taking picture with pigeons on their hands. I cannot even begin to tell you how gross that is. Yucky. (can you sense my distaste for pigeons?)

The Olivetti Showroom is yet another masterpiece of Scarpa's, done for the Olivetti typewriter company. We studied this building heavily in History of Architecture, so getting to see it was awesome and yet slightly disappointing. It's definitely a much smaller space than it seems in photographs and we technically weren't allowed to take photos but I was a bit past following the rules. Plus I had already gotten off about 15 shots before they even said anything, so their loss.

Scandalous photo.

After the showroom and more walking through the crowed Venice streets we hit a dead end where a gondola company is situation so that we could cross the canal to the fish market. I was pretty excited because I didn't want to pay a lot of money for a private gondola, but at the same time it's Venice and you basically have to ride one while you're there.

Needless to say, the view was gorgeous. But I wish the guy sang or something (too touristy? a girl can dream)

Once we reached the other side it was free time for lunch. We found a really inexpensive place right by and chanced it on the food, which turned out to be amazing!

Then Rachel and I each bought an apple from the market and spent the rest of our time in the sun and by the water.

Next we left the main part of Venice and road one of their waterbuses over to Giudecca, where it's significantly less touristy and more working class. There we saw the Redentore Church by Andrea Palladio, a huge name in architecture. 

It was cool, but I feel like the name impressed me more than the actual church. But then my feelings could have been influenced about the structure for other reasons, such as having to pay to enter...

After that we went to our final destination, also in Giudecca, that turned out to be one of the most architecturally and overall depressing places, strictly in my own opinion! To me it just seemed like an architectural graveyard. And the lack of people outside definitely contributed to this effect. But I enjoyed some of the more modern structures; it was just so barren and sad looking.

Maybe our professor and chaperone felt it to, because they bought us all caffe afterwards!

This clearly made Megan happy. Well, that and she shouldn't be given caffeine.

It was a bit of a long day for us, so we decided to treat ourselves with gelato. It didn't turn out to be that great, which just gave us the excuse to get more later on in the weekend. When in Venice, right?