Sunday, October 29, 2006

Venice is Sinking and I don't Wanna Swim!

For years (since grade 9 geography class, actually) I have hear Venice repeatedly framed as a decaying, dirty and unreasonable expensive city. After treading Venice's tangle of alleyways myself, I can attest that it is a sinking, decaying, water-damaged, outrageously expensive city; but its a great one! Tourism is all that is keeping this puddle city afloat (it is literally sinking, though).

Venice-pricing inhibited us from doing some really cool things, namely a gondola ride. A 30 minute ride would have soaked up more than an entire days budget for us. Gondoliers were a funny bunch. They dressed in horizontal black and white stripes and, atop their heads, they wore the standard stiff-rimmed hats. Watching the romantic, deep-pocketed couples who took the plunge, we couldn't help wonder how jail mate/Beetlejuice uniforms became synonymous with romance.

The patron saint of Venice is St. Mark. I'll give you one guess what the Basilica is called. You're right! Unastonishingly, it is named St. Mark's Basilica. It is a church unlike any church I have ever seen. It was a Western church decorated as if it were an Eastern church. Nearly every inch of the floor, walls, and ceiling told a story through Byzantine mosiacs. Yoda would have said, "Pretty cool, it was." I agree with Yoda.

In the North Transcept I prayed with two saints. To my right laid the body of St. Mark and to my front was a painting by St. Luke himself. In me stirred a sense of fellowship with these two saints. It certainly made for a memorable place to pray.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you very much Kristen Pomes!!!!!

Mom and Dad Mooney said...

No gondala ride! The pictures look great - you can at least imagine that you were on a gondala.

Anonymous said...

Hey Kristen,
who's the bearded guy with you?
let's see some camping pics!

Anonymous said...

Kristen was that picture of your your laundry outside?

Keep working on the photo's skills.

Anonymous said...

We just got both post cards today!!!! What a nice surprise, thanks!

Anonymous said...

Hi guys: We received your postcard yesterday - thank you so much. It looks like you are having a truly great time - good for you. Keep up the excellent reports. They are so interesting and they make me feel like I am right there.
Bye for now. Love Betsy

Anonymous said...

I love you Pomey!!

Thanks so much for the postcard!

Anonymous said...

I missed your call AGAIN.....all I want to do is talk to my Kirsten.......on a happy note, we got another postcard, so I was very excited about that.

Miss you LOTS

Anonymous said...

opps, pressed enter too soon!

Anonymous said...

The trip looks amazing. I have been reading but not commenting , I was waiting for Doris to post first. I was a little disappointed that I did not see a white dress in Switzerland.
Shelly

11/06/2006 7:24 AM

Anonymous said...

Hey kristen, it's Lindsay just wanted to let you know that Jaime had her babay!! YAY she had him on Thursday 2nd and he's healthy. I love reading what you wrote and your pictures are breathtaking...Miss ya lots and can't wait to see you when you get back.. Love Lindsay

Anonymous said...

Hey Bella!!!
I got your postcard today!! yay!! very happy to hear from you cuz I MISS YOU!! so glad you are having an awesome time though. i will have the jubejubes ready when you get back. i cant wait to see all your pictures and hear about all the adventures.
love ya lots
Airica
p.s bring me back a cute italian, it can be my bday present!!