Venice Day Three!

So I went to bed after my fireworks fiasco on Saturday and got four hours of sleep and woke up early on Sunday to hit it and get it. Funny story from Saturday I missed: after leaving a museum on Saturday, two Indians came dashing around a corner carrying purses, followed in hot pursuit by two black guys with bags full of sunglasses, both pairs grinning wildly. Italians automatically assume these two ethnicities are either gypsies or low life street salesmen, so I had a hunch I knew what was chasing these four. Sure enough, two heavy set police officers came barreling around the corner after the four, but soon gave up the chase, choosing to let the wrongdoers flee in order to stop running. It was comical and a classic movie chase seen where the characters yell zoinks and then take off running with smoke coming from their feet. Anyhow, back to Sunday.

So I get up early, go to a museum that opens at 8:15. Get there the sign says they don't open till 2, sorry for the inconvenience. Go from there to a church that opens at 9:15. From there to the Opera House from there to the Doge's palace (hidden tour of museum, with dungeons included) from there to a museum from there to St. Mark's from there to the clocktower from there to a museum (the biennale) from there to the boat to the train to Rome. And that was Venice. Let me expand on some of these things.

If you go to Venice, go to only the Doge's palace and St. Mark's. Both are really really cool, the rest of the museums are ehh worthy. St. Mark's really nickle and dimed though, which I was sad to see. 2 euros to see the altar, 3 euros to see the sacristy with the relics, 5 euros to see the museum. If you go, see the museum and skip the rest. I'll throw up some pictures momentarily and you can see what I mean. My rant continues on modern art, or at least on the liberal arts. Now, as a Classics major, I am considered a liberal arts major, and graciously accept the threat and worry of everyone that I will never find a job. As I've proven this summer, I can do whatever I want with a Classics degree, and the sky is my limit. The liberal artists at the biennale museums are not as fortunate. The biennale for architecture is held in the old arsenal, which would be a really cool place to have an aquarium or a naval history museum or something living up to the grandeur and history of the place. The biennale does no such thing. It's basically full of liberal arts style projects that miss the point of life. This is harsh criticism, but I saw too many projects that could be discarded. For instance, they would argue that the problem facing the world, the big problem, is the way an earthquake affected the architecture of a small town in eastern Italy. That's where our focus should lie, that's how to solve the middle east problem, that's the answer. That's bullshit. Another, was a lengthy report on how our fascination with a sex-utopia, whatever the heck that is, originated from the architecture of Pompeii and how Pompeii had one of the greatest sex cultures the world has ever seen. Another was stating all that we could learn by observing the evolution of disco halls in Rome from 1960 to the present day. This is a fun study, spend a week or so on it, but then there are more important things to do in this world. You see for me, my liberal arts education is being used to shape me and ground me as a person. As the raw marble that is my character and brain is buffetted by the gusts of Aristotle, Homer and Socrates, I learn what parts of my character are weak and are blown away, what parts form my core, and how to combat the gusts from both the ancient and modern thinkers, so that I too may provide insights into the world around me and strive for the academic and philosophical brilliance these men achieved. To pigeon hole myself into being an expert on Ancient Pompeiin sex culture would be a deservice to myself, to my teachers and to the ancient authors, who expected that a man be knowledge on many topics and be able to discuss anything. That is all. And now, we enter the realm of philosophy (pictures are coming, don't worry).

I noticed on Sunday, as I waited in line for St. Mark's, that there was an elderly, bent back man begging outside the church. Directly across the square, the beggars of the air, the pigeons were also looking for food. While this beggar man received nothing, lots of tourists filled the square with bread and crumbs to take photos with the pigeons eating from their hands, siting on their shoulders, and for the lucky ones, being pooped on in gratitude for the free food, providing a fun story to tell grandma and grandpa back home. Basically, the pigeons are fed after begging, whereas the beggar man is not. Who is at fault in this situation? Now to lay this out bare bones, I consider the pigeon and beggar man to be the same. They both beg, they both choose to ask for food, instead of searching for themselves, they both come to crowded places where they know will be hand outs. Now, I know all the arguments. The beggar man could find a job, the beggar man knows better, the beggar man is probably faking it and is really not elderly, crippled or poor, the beggar man can find food, the pigeons are just dumb animals. The elderly man could probably work, but there comes an age where men should be allowed to rest on their laurels, and be provided for (see Greek literature) after having fought valiently. Maybe he was faking. This is always a possibility. I don't know how many of you have begged in your life, but it's humiliating, and for 10, maybe 20 euros in a day. Maybe we're at fault. We have excess we could give it away, but we choose to feed the birds, who are also capable of finding food elsewhere, they just find it easier to beg, instead of our fellow man. We are sick and tired of feeling like we're being used; stories abound of people giving a euro to a beggar, and then coming back later in the day to see said beggar with an iphone checking his email.

The whole system is broken, and I'm not sure who to look to for answers. I did not give the beggar any money, so I'm right here with the rest of you, not on a soap box. Today, there were three children on the train. They brought on an accordion, began to play (always the same song) and walked around asking for money. They didn't appear to be starving, they weren't even that poorly clothed. I didn't give them any money, partially to punish the parents. Students at that age should be in school, and their parents should be helping them achieve a brighter future, not using them as emotional draw to play to the sympathetic tourists. They can also learn new songs, showing they'll adapt the business model to please the customer, but I have yet to hear anything different from the usual song. I suppose kudos for providing a product to the customer, instead of just sticking out your hand demanded euros, but if I was in despearte need of money I would be getting creative. I don't know. It's a mess, I feel something (not guilt, these kids weren't starving to death) and I don't know what to think. Everyone is wrong in this system, even the blasted pigeons. As I'm rambling, I'll cut this off, put up pictures and go to bed. Today I toured churches so there might be some of those later on. 

After a Friday night in Venice, even the statues are hungover

Bridge of sighs, photos from the inside later

Jazz at the Opera, yeah that's Jimmie Hendrix

The original Quad. Little bit bigger than Dillon's, but not much

From inside the bridge of sighs

World map, from the past, don't know what year

The coolest thing in the Biennale

Pontoon bridge for the festival of the Redentore, see my last post if you need details

I like the Nike designs better than US designs, but I prefer US prices. They wanted 131 euros or $180. Woah

Assume I'm not going to post this weekend. I've got the biggest adventure of the summer planned, so they'll be lots of cool photos come Monday, but no posts between now and then. Sorry for party rocking.