Finishing up Italy: Rome and Venice

So Jacob has already told the highlight of our Rome trip (and probably the trip as a whole, if not the highlight of our whole lives), but there are a few more things that we did in Rome that are worth mentioning. We met Erin Kochivar (a friend from church who is studying at a seminary in Rome for those who don't know) on the same day that we had our audience with the Pope. He took us to a cool little park that had a fantastic view of Rome. We spent the next day exploring the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, and the Colosseum. All together we really had a nice time in Rome. Below are some pictures of notable events.

Jacob thought this angel looked like it had a selfie-stick like the ones they were selling on the streets. I thought it was the sponge that was offered to Christ on the cross; close enough right?

The Trevi Fountain was under construction. Gar!!

Ceiling of the Pantheon, pretty cool.

Men in black.

Alter at St. Peters

Selfie in front of the Colosseum (not with a selfie-stick)

After Rome, we arrived in Venice. Venice is really a city like no other. According to the girl who lead us on a free tour around the city, it was actually a group of 118 muddy islands before the Romans came and decided to make a city there. There is so much water and so many narrow streets completely surrounded by tall old buildings. It was just a really cool place to be.

While in Venice we visited the Saint Mark's square (the main tourist stop), went to mass at the cathedral there, took some pictures, and Jacob got attacked by birds. Jacob was taking lots of pictures because there is a Pokemon movie that apparently uses Venice and Saint Mark's square in particular, as inspiration for its setting.

The ceiling in St. Mark's cathedral was completely gold, either paint of leaf, we couldn't tell.

We were walking through a large gathering of pigeons when a street seller shoved from little dried pasta bits into Jacob's hands. The birds surrounded him then. They started landing on his hand and arms. I was freaking out (they are like rats with wings, gross!), but managed to get a picture or two. They guy then asked for money, which we didn't give him because 1. we didn't ask for pasta to feed the birds, and 2. because we weren't going to pay him for letting vermin climb all over Jacob and possibly give him all kinds of nasty diseases. But the picture is kind of cool anyhow.

He kind of looks like St. Francis; "let the disease-ridden birds come to me"

Some other highlights from Venice included seeing the most beautiful book store in the world and climbing a staircase of books, visiting the old Jewish ghetto and taking a guided tour of some synagogues, and eating some of best pasta we've ever had.

This book shop keeps all of its books in boats and bathtubs so they don't have to close down their store when the city floods in the winter.

Staircase made of books which had been ruined in a past flood

Jacob had to wear a Yarmulke when we went into all the synagogues

Handmade pasta with bits of extremely tender and flavorful veal, need I say more?

We also spent a lot of time just wondering the city and taking pictures of so many beautiful things. Here are just a few.

The gondola's bow is actually packed with symbolism for Venice. For example, it's entire swerve-y shape is the same shape as Grand Canal.

We also will be taking home a Venetian mask as a souvenir. The guide on the free tour told us the story about why Venice is famous for masks and we really liked it. Many people think that the masks are famous because of the Carnival festival they have every year, but this is not the case. In fact Venice started the Carnival festivities because of the masks they had to begin with. In the medieval times members of the wealthy class and aristocracy were known by face and name like celebrities. Because of this, if they were seen doing anything socially questionable they would cause scandal. Someone from this upper class decided that he would just wear a mask, a black cape, and hat whenever he was doing something questionable so that no one would know who he was. This idea spread like wildfire among the aristocracy and soon everyone was wearing masks. Sometimes it would be because they were doing something that would have caused scandal, but sometimes they wore a mask just because they didn't want to be bothered. After years of this tradition of mask wearing, the city decided to start the festival of Carnival to celebrate social equality. When everyone is wearing a mask, everyone is equal. Under the mask and cape you could be a king or just a humble laborer. It was cause to treat everyone with respect.

Because of this cool story and the fact that the masks look really cool, we bought one to bring home. Sometimes it will hang on our wall and we will bring it down to wear for renaissance festivals and Halloween festivities. It's pretty darn cool.

This is not the mask we bought, but it was this shape and mostly white (more traditional) with a little gold.

We are in Munich now and will be heading to Vienna next. Jacob will hopefully write a quick post about our adventures in those cities soon.

Ciao!
Jessie and Jacob