I want to be a relic.

Well I didn't write anything yesterday because I have not stopped moving.  Sheer exhaustion has enveloped by body yet I continue to run around.  I wouldn't be happy any other way.  Besides, that's pretty much how I live my life at home anyways!

Yesterday I visited San Marco Square.  San Marco the Evangelist was the most important relic to Venice.  San Marco was responsible for bringing fame and fortune to Venice.  He was buried in Alexandria and if you are in possession of a relic's bones, it's a big deal.  If you find or posses a relic's remains, the relic will watch over you and do what you wish in exchange for payment.  The offering is either money, or super old school times they poured wine into the tomb.  The bones allegedly cary an ora and emanate their spirit.  They also produce an oily resin that was magical.  That's just wacky to me.  Some stinky decaying body is magic?  Sorry, I'll believe it when Santa delivers me a Ferrari.  But OK...  When exhuming the body from wherever it was, they typically lowered a glass vile filled with olive oil.  It's believed to be magical oil.  Shazam, it cured the sick, blessed, and a whole bunch of other junk.

So here's the story:
Two merchants were hanging out by chance in Alexandria doing their thing.  It was around 829 AD.  Alexandria was predominantly Muslim at the time.  They were liberal but still had some Christian influences.  One of the merchants was from Tocello, the place I visited the day before.  So merchant 1 and merchant 2 got the brilliant idea to bring Mr. Marco back to Venice.  But wait, how the heck do you smuggle a mummified important dude back through customs?

Well, thing 1 and thing 2 thought came up with the idea to hide him in pork.  Brilliant!  The Muslims freaked out and didn't look.  The magical San Marco proved his powers on the way back to Venezia.  He saved the merchants ship from a storm and a few other instances happened along the way.  Now his ratty old bones are hanging in the basement of this church.

I had to sneak all these pictures!  Photos weren't allowed.

Floor and crypt

Words and pictures are impossible to describe this place.  The exterior has many different types of marble columns, all with a unique pattern.  Mosaics adorn all parts and it's a lot to handle.  Once I walked in, my jaw dropped.  I kind of felt like a cartoon character, ya know, the one where the jaw drops and the tongue has to be rolled up and put back inside.  It's one long rectangle with some stuff going on on the sides.  There are 5 domes and you don't know where to look.  The entirety of the ceiling is covered in an array of biblical scenes.  The floor was incredible.  It was also a mosaic but made with lots of different marble.  All the pieces were arranged in geometric patterns but all were different.  Marina said that most of the marble was common, and even local, but some pieces that were used are extremely rare and valuable.  They were brought as gifts for San Marco.  The floor itself was very wavy.  I'm not sure how often, but the church (especially the crypt downstairs where they keep San Marco) floods.  It's settled, but unevenly.  When we initially walked in, there were no lights on.  Parts of the church had gigantic windows which were sufficient.  Then about after 10 minutes of being there, they switched on the lights.  One by one, they came on and illuminated the mosaics.  Holy crap, it was incredible.  Not being too poetically cheesy, but the ceiling glimmered like thousands of diamonds.  We talked for a few minutes about some stuff and then we just sat and stared - in awe.  Everywhere you looked was something completely new and intriguing.

PROPAGANDA & JUDGEMENT
Let's think for a second.  When this church was resurrected, common people couldn't read.  The only truth they knew was what they saw - therefor they believed the church's word.  Oh hell, it's the scary Catholic church, you better believe them!  So that means that all the mosaics were essentially propaganda.  It was a way to subconsciously reenforce the church's word.  One of the apses depicted the final judgement just like the cathedral in Torchello.  They're so fixated on judgement!  Live and let live,   please.  When I was thinking about what to write for this part of my blog, my brain was spinning with frustration and lots of other stuff.  It's such a crock.  There were no expenses spared in the creation of this church.  Look at the columns on the outside.  It should be a sin to spend that much money on this creation.  Shoes, yes- churches, no.

Since I'm near comatose, I'm not feeling so angry and leaning more towards the passive side.  I'm sure I'll revisit the debate later.

The upper area of the church that we paid to see was well worth it.  It was a balcony which gave a great view of the entire thing.  This balcony was used to separate women from the mass.  We also could go outside from there and had a pretty great view of the whole square.

The Church

Overlooking San Marco Square

Kelly & Geena

Can you image sticking that many pieces of stone into a wall?

I'd go insane.

After that, a few of us ate lunch at a petite little outdoor cafe.  We were all famished.  I had some sort of prosciutto y brie sandwich.  It was mediocre.  I have to say that I have not been impressed with the food here.  Being a foodie, my expectations were sky high.  The first night's restaurant was good but since then, nothing has been spectacular.  I also have not explored that extensively... Hope is not lost.

Kelly's mozz y un pizza.

We all cooked a nice meal together back at the apartment and very cliche, but listened to Frank Sinatra.  Oh well, we all had a great time. 

NIGHTLIFE

YOU'RE ALLOWED TO DRINK IN PUBLIC HERE.  What a welcome change.  Rules are different. Maybe I can ride my bike on the sidewalk and smoke in the subways.  Wait, there aren't any roads to ride a bike on, and I don't smoke.  Strike that.  We all ventured to the Academia Bridge.  I heard that was the happening spot...

We met some lovely Argentinean family.  There were a few brothers, a sister, and a cousin.  I used my Spanish, and used it well.  They were looking for a salsa club, which they were unable to find but we jumped along for the ride.  We ended up where all the young people hang out.  It was really cool.  The bars were tiny and everyone was on the street.  If this were in America, the police would have a field day.  Riot and SWAT teams probably would be called to control the droves of unruly youth.  Regardless. I had fun.  I asked some local what he was drinking and he said prosecco and something bitter.  It was absolutely gross when I ordered it but - o well.  The bathrooms were pretty interesting.  Super low to the floor with no toilet seats or lids.  When I teach my little field hockey girls to play hockey, I tell them the ready position is PTS - public toilet stance.  I was PTSing all over Venezia.  It was quite a challenge, especially in my adorable vintage heels.  Note to self - no heels.  I ended up dying by the end of the night.

The group split up towards the end of the night and a few of us reunited with our Argentineans.  I took a flaming shot.  It was delicious.  We met people from all over the globe.  There were students from London who were comprised of an asian, indian, and a frenchie.  Also New Zealand.  I think that's a pretty diverse night.  No Americans though!  From there we followed the Argentineans to a crowded club.  It was - an experience.  We'll probably go back tonight and bring the rest of the group.  I'm pretty sure this was the place to be.  It was crowded and the music was strange, but really really really fun.

We strayed home around 4:30 am only to find out that the vaporetto (water taxis) don't run as frequently at night - or at all.  I still don't believe they exist.  We payed a taxi to take us home and went on our merry way.

This morning I was up by 9:30 and we trekked to Murano, the notorious glassblowing island.  First, we took a tour of Venice and I scoped out some great shops to buy stuff.  I also found the first real flower shop!

   

We also passed these along the way:

Murano was cool.  We went to see how glass blowing was created.  

There was glass everywhere.  Lot's of shops had junk.  Authenticity is a huge problem and the people are not happy about how much of the glass is counterfeit.  The piece which I purchased from from a lovely little artist.  It was a great little shop and they were playing Pink Floyd.  :)

We had lunch away from the bustle in a family owned (service was slow) garden cafe.  I had simply spaghetti bolognese.  It was OK.

I haven't slept in what seems like days because I never fully adjusted to the jetlag.  I'm gonna try to nap now before we head out for the night.  This whole experience is surreal.  The buildings are like a novelty to me.  It sort of feels like Disney world.  Cultures are not that extreme.  Things are different but nothing as drastic as I thought.  I'm getting by with Italian, sort of.  I understand it but have trouble communicating.  I went to the large grocery store and I was unaware that I had to weigh my bananas.  The cashier was horribly rude and started to trash talk me in Italian.  Stupid lady.  I can understand you but I wasn't quick enough/have to vocabulary to rebut.  Oh well, no bananas for me.  I haven't had anytime to work out and it's bothering me.  We walked for the entirety of today so my legs hurt but I need to run.  The beach is scheduled for tomorrow so that should be a nice relaxing treat.

NAP TIME.