ロマンティックな夜が明けて、まだ何となく夢見心地のまま、朝イチで再びサンマルコ広場に向かいました。明日の昼の便でベニスを発つので、きょうが「ベニスでの最後の1日」になるわけで、家族や友人へのお土産を買ったり、実はまだ内部には入ったことのないサンマルコ寺院見物など、「To Do List」には、沢山の課題が残っています。
In the morning of the actual last day for me to stay the whole day in the old city, I went to see the S. Marco. As the exterior of the beautiful Basilica is under the construction, I gave up painting the facade of Saint Marks this time. Instead, I decided to go inside and to see the view from its balcony.
The inside of the Basilica is really ... huge!, of course, and its stunning golden ceiling, walls and alter were nothing but breathtaking!! It is not hard to imagine how rich and powerful the city of Venice was in the Middle age. It is free of charge to get inside of the church, however, you need to pay 2 euro each to get closer & go around the golden alter and to go up balcony to see the grand view of Piazza S. Marco.
Why not? I tried both and felt that it's more than worth enough to pay. When I finally got the other side of the golden alter -- decorated with golden glass tiles and gem stones -- I could hardly move for a while. I just stayed there and stared at the shinning alter, probably for 10 minutes or so. Then finally, I went up to the balcony of the S. Marco to overlook the grand view of the square from there. The view was juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust great. Yet I gave up opening my sketch book here again, as the view was too huge to paint. I decided to brand the scene on one's mind, instead. Thank you Venice to let me share this beautiful view!!
In the afternoon, I did some shopping for my friends and family and went back the Dorsoduro district. I stopped by the restaurant I found two days ago to say 'Hi' to the waiters. The owner of the restaurant bought me a glass of beer and I painted a small canal view from the table. How nice of him!
Then I took a vaporetto to cross the grand canal toward the Piazza S. Marco again. As I wanted to paint the last piece here in Venice at the time of sunset, I looked for the best vista point from there. However, I couldn't find any better spot than the sunset view from the hotel bar where I stay. So, I took the best table facing the canal and the Bailica di S. Maria della Salute about 1 hour before the sunset and ordered a glass of Bellini.
While I was panting, a German father and his son came up to me. Actually, I have recognized the German boy who often tried to get a covert glance of my work, but he ran back when I looked at him. "Excuse me, but can we get a closer look of your watercolor? My son says he is a great fan of your painting, but he is too shy to say so." "Sure, my pleasure. I haven't finished this piece yet, but please!"
The boy finally came to right next to me and looked at my painting, and he said in English, "Very nice!" "Thank you very much!"
I could hear that the boy was practicing this short but beautiful English words with his father before they came up to me. So sweet! And just before the sunset, I could finish this last piece and started having dinner, the last meal in my favorite city, there, too. * * * * * * * *
On the following day, I took a vaporetto from the hotel to Tronchetto, where bus terminal & parking buildings are located. As the Dorsoduro restaurant owner gave me a ride from the Tronchetto to the Marco Polo Airport, it took only 15 minutes or 50 minutes in total. (And I could save more than 200 euro this time!! It would cost 5 euro by shuttle bus and about 50 euro by taxi to the airport.)
でもまだしばらくは、彼のお店があるドルソドゥーロ地区とは正反対にある、カンナレッジオ地区に留まって絵を描いていたかったので、今夜またお店にご飯を食べに行くことを「改めて」約束。11時過ぎには仕事が終わると言うので、それに合わせて前日のように早い時間の夕食ではなく、9時過ぎに行く事を伝えると、ようやく納得して電話を切ってくれました。 と、ここまで約束しておいて行かないのは「なでしこジャパン代表」として名が廃ります。少し迷いましたが、まぁ今夜ぐらいはちょっとだけ「ベニスの魔法」にかかったふりもいいかな、などと思い、気合いを入れて夕方までにカンナレッジオの風景画を2枚仕上げました。いったんホテルに戻り、汗でクタクタになった服を着替えて、(昨日は汗でクタクタのままお店に行ってしまいましたが・・・)グランカナルにかかる橋を渡ってお店に向かいました。
店の前に立って待っていたリッカルドは、昨夜にも増して満面の笑みで迎えてくれました。昨夜と同じ店内の「特等席」に案内されて、ベネチア風・3種の魚のマリネと、パルミジャーノチーズとクレマ・バルサミコが添えられた牛のステーキを頂きました。ワインは「お店から」とのことでサービスしてもらい、ゆっくり食事を済ませた後に一緒にお店を出て、ドルソドゥーロ地区の先端にあるPunta della
Doganaまで色々な話をしながら、グランドカナル沿いの道をお散歩しました。
On the 5th day in Venice, I went to the Cannaregio area, an old Jewish town in Venice near the train station, by taking advice from the English lady I met at the Punta della Dogana. As she told me, there are old, but beautiful Venetian houses and bridges there.
I began my day by taking vaporetto to Piazza Roma, where there is bus terminal to the airport and other cities. Though I spent several hundreds euro when I came in the city (as it was midnight...I spent that much just for security reasons...) by hotel taxi accompanied by a concierge person, I wanted to take public transportation on the way back to the airport. It will be less expensive, besides it is more time saving by taking land transport, rather than taking boat taxi all the way.
So, I timed my trip to the airport from the hotel and found out that it takes about 35-40 min. from S. Marco fermata to Piazza Roma (but free, as I have 7-day pass). Taxi drivers there told me that it will take about 20 min. from the bus terminal to the airport and the fare will be 40 euro. Well, not bad, though it will cost only 5 euro if I take shuttle bus from there... OK, either way works, I guess... The only problem will be carrying my luggage from the hotel to the S. Marco fermata -- about 5 min. walk. but I have to cross 3 bridges... Then I walked toward the Cannaregio, passing by the S. Lucia train station. In the Cannaregio area, I found many local grocery stores (not really for tourists) and bought mixed seasoning to make Venetian dishes. As I took 6 packages for my friends, the store owner gave me 1 euro discount for each. How nice! I also found a nice restaurant in the old Jewish quarter. I was the only tourist there as the rest of the customers were local people from shops or studios nearby. They simply ordered the restaurant's "Today's Lunch" by choosing pasta out of 3 kinds and main dish (meat or fish). So, I just followed their manner -- Spaghetti Sepia (Squid ink sauce spaghetti) and Fish of the day; grilled Monk fish -- both of them are very Venetian. The lunch set menu included a glass of wine and a mixed salad and it cost only 18 euro... Wow!! It was very delicious lunch but the cheapest meal I had in the city. Now I really love the Cannaregio very much.
I painted 2 watercolors in the area, one with a small beautiful bridge with gondolas and the other is the church with very decorative facade.To depict the details of the decoration, I used less colors for this piece.
As it was really hot day due to the heat from Africa (temperature went up around 35c, which is very unusual for Venice), I decided to go back to the hotel before sunset.
On the way back to hotel, I stopped by a very attractive mask shop near the Ponte Realto. The shop lady told me that we can dress up (costume and mask) for 400-500 euro, saying, "You should come back at the time of Mask Festival!" Surely. I wish I could do so really...
For dinner, I went to the same Dorsoduro restaurant I enjoyed on the previous day.The owner and waiters greeted me warm smiles and delicious dishes. Cantinone Storico
I had 3-kinds marinated fish in Venetian way and beef stake with Parmesan cheese and crema balsamico sause. The fish tasted exactly like Japanese "Mamakari" -- lightly salted & vinegar tasted fish from Okayama Prefecture.
It is Monday, and the halfway of my adventure here in Venice. So, I decided to be ACTIVE today, besides, I did only 2 watercolors on the previous day. I have many things to see and paint here!! 早くも4日目の朝。ベニスの旅も折り返し、中日です。昨日はリアルト橋とカーサ・ドーロの2枚しか仕上げられなかったので、ネジを巻いて朝から活発に動き回ることにしました。本丸であるサンマルコ寺院やその周辺の景色も抑えておきたいものです。(日本語編は英語の後に続きます)
I took a light meal in my room and started my day from the Piazza San Marco, the center of the city. As I did not have time to see inside of the Ducale and the Basilica, I have to see them!! First of all, I went to the Piazza San Marco to wait for the opening of the Ducale, palace museum. Usually, there are many people waiting for buying tickets to get in. So, I decided to be there a bit before the gate opening. By the time when I got to the entrance, there were only 6-7 people waiting in the line. Fortunately, shortly after the ticket office opened, I was able to get in. Though I did not get any options, such as guided tour tickets, I could overhear the explanation by tour guides, both in English and Japanese, from anywhere in the museum. They take group tourists from Japan, the U.S., UK and etc. I could even enjoy crossing the famous bridge, Ponte dei Sospiri, in the palace museum along with very kind guidance from them! It took approximately 1 hour to see around the museum and then I went back to the galleria where we can look up the campanile. Of course, I painted the tremendous view from there!
And when I finished painting the beautiful campanile over the arches, about 1 hour later, I decided to go to the other side of the gland canal, shortly after visiting the annex of the Ducale Museum. I really wanted to paint the campanile and the Ducale/S. Marco from the Dorsoduro side. Though we had occasional rains, I could kept painting as I could find a spot on the very edge of the Dorsoduro, right across the Piazza S. Marco, over the canal. So, in the relatively quite area with beautiful small bridges, I painted 3 watercolors on the day before sunset. What a productive day I!!
Punta della Doganaから、対岸のサンマルコ寺院(の屋根)と鐘楼のスケッチをしていると、にわか雨が降って来ました。屋根の下に入って、絵が濡れないように気をつけながら描いていると、折りたたみ椅子持参&レインコートで完全武装した女性も絵を描いていました。英国人だというその女性は私の絵を見ると「あなた、Cannaregio地区には行った?きっと気に入るわよ」とアドバイスしてくれたので、明日のスケッチポイントはそちらに向かうことにしました。 雨が上がったので、そのままDorsoduro地区を歩き回り、素敵なホテルの入口とその横にある可愛らしい橋もスケッチしました。頑張って立て続けに絵を描いていたので、さすがに喉が渇いたのと、お手洗いに行きたかったのでグッケンハイム美術館を目指しましたが、ちょうどカフェが終了の時間で中に入れず・・・。仕方なくそのまま歩き続けると、カナル沿いにテーブルを出しているカフェ・レストランを発見。テーブル席で煙草をくゆらす友人相手におしゃべりしていた男性が私を見ると急に立ち上がり「どうぞ。おすわりください」と椅子を引いてくれました。お客様だと思っていたらお店の人だったのでした。