venice by daylight

Tomorrow morning, I am going to sneak out bright and early and go see San Marco by myself.


Because I am slowly going a little insane.


It will be quiet and peaceful, and it will just be me, myself, my thoughts, the birds, and the random people I run into who don't know me.


And that sounds wonderful.


My biggest concern before I came over here was having to be "on" for my coworkers constantly.  I take my job seriously.  I also take my "off" time seriously.  Without "off" time, I feel like a trapped rabbit.  And I turn into a trapped rabbit . . . horrid yet trying hard to be nice and acting rather timid (so that I don't snap) but with sharp little teeth (kinda like Monty Python).  Small talk is NOT my friend.


When I don't trust myself to be nice (because my inner resources are GONE), I go into conservation/shut down mode.  I hate it.  It's no fun for others.  I need something to reset myself.  I want to be confident and cool again, dang it.


And since I just found out I'll be sitting through talks in the morning (which is nice because they're kinda cool, I can use them for my job, and I don't have to talk to anyone) and then taking my boss to see San Marco in the afternoon (we have very different traveling styles), I am going to soak it in with all its morning glory BY MYSELF.  


In the meantime, I am feeding my need to feel connected by typing away in the hotel lobby (the only place that has WiFi in the hotel) and entertaining myself by watching the awesome female receptionist field off all the weird tourists and gossip about them all with the bartender as soon as they are gone.  It's kind of great.


Here are some pictures from today.  I'll try to take more tomorrow.  Today was survival-mode.  Tomorrow is get-happy day.  


So, I'm staying right by the Accademia Bridge, which was apparently only the second bridge (after the famous covered Rialto bridge) to be built to connect the two major sides of Venice.  So it would hate to tell you so, but it's kind of a big deal.  I'll see if I could get a shot of it tomorrow.  It's wooden and solid and understated.  I like it.


You know what else I'll get a picture of tomorrow?  My crazy, CRAZY room.  Let that be a teaser.


So here's the view (I think) from one side of it (hey, it's been a long day).  And I'm pretty sure that's the Grand Canal I'm crossing over there.

And here is the view from the other side.  This side is my favorite.

Ok, so next photo down: there up front at the left, the yellow one with the fancy-schmancy white Venetian gothic windows, that's the Palazzo where they are holding the conference.  The idea: the telescope produces beautiful images and insights into our universe, so it is fitting to have gatherings to talk about that science in beautiful places.

Translation: Let's find a way for scientists and techies to go somewhere besides their Star-Trek figurined cubicles.  I approve of their idea.  Here's where the papers are being presented: dang nice room.  And here are some scenes below from my trek to the dog-ladies to fix my boots (the more I think about this, the more I wonder if I was a complete idiot today).  

So, canal on the right, the start of a piazza on the left.  I love how the inner piazzas are quieter than Rome's.  And it weirds me out how incredible unphased I am to be back in Italy.  It's familiar without any sense of difference.  And the only disconcerting thing about it to me out how quickly I slid back into it again.  (On a related note, my boss noticed that my blood pressure rose considerably as soon as we crossed the border).

So here's more of some square.

And I think I took this when I broke out into the Grand Canal again.  I couldn't for the life of me tell you why I didn't take a picture of the Rialto bridge.  Tomorrow.

View.

Oh wait, I did.  There's the Rialto peeking over the boats 'n such.

This city is so heartbreakingly romantic.  

Some day . . .

A brighter view of that church now that my feet have fallen off.

 Taken from the window inside the conference Palazzo, just as dusk started creeping in.

Taken on my way to find shoes.  That man looks like he's looking for something too.

And this captures it.  It's a magical spot on this Earth.

Till tomorrow.  Thank you so much to everyone who sent little notes!!  :)  I'm so grateful to be over here, but it weighs on me so much how much I want to SHARE it with folks who speak my language.  Homesick today for that reason.