Venice Carnival, a lazy day exploring the Arsenale, Italy
This morning I slept until 12 PM.
By the time we washed up, did our morning meditation and lessons, it was too late to plan much… So after an enjoyable drink of fresh red orange juices and cappuccinos in the bakery below our apartment, we decided to take a leisurely stroll to see the Arsenale neighborhood.
The Arsenale is an ancient shipyard and naval depot area, (which are no longer in use to build ships,) located at the eastern tip of Venice,
In a canal-based city, the shipyard used to have a major importance in the flourishing of the Venetian empire.
The original Old Arsenal was built between 1100 and 1300.
The New Arsenal complex between 1300 and 1400, while the Newest Arsenal was built between 1473 and 1573.
Venice developed the ‘Frame-First’ method of mass-producing ships in the Arsenal, which replaced the earlier Roman ‘Hull-First’ method.
I know virtually NOTHING about ship building, but apparently the Venetian new method saved on wood, and was much faster.
In the early 16th century, the Arsenal employed around 16,000 people who were able to build and arm a whole ship in ONE day.
Today the area has large gardens which host the many pavilions of Venice Biennale.
Each country has its own pavilion with their name on it.
We notice many people walking their dogs in the garden, all fully dressed in lovely winter outfits (the dogs that is…)
We imagined some doggy conversations…(try to read this in an Italian doggy accent….)
One dog who was meticulously dressed in a red and black outfit, including a small studded belt, must have said to another dog, who wore his sweater not so elegantly, with his front legs not fitting through the sleeves:
“Hey, Frederico, what’s up? Didn’t you have time to clean up or dress this winter morning?”
Frederico: “Yo….. Angelica, you are looking sweet….
Yes… My owner was getting ready to leave and I had to rush or he forgets to take me to the park… So I just threw something on and run down…”
Look at Antonio over there…. He seems to be wearing his cousin’s clothing from last year…”
Antonio: “Yes… I keep telling my owner that it does not fit…
I say to her that last year’s clothes of my cousin Vini, do NOT fit me…
And She say that I will grow into them….
But I say…Meno…cousin Vini is a great Dane…. And I am just a poodle… How can I grow into them….it is crazy….
But she says that I just role up the sleeves and it looks cool…
I don’t believe her… But I wear it…What choice do I have…..”
The old Arsenale stands ominous with its fortified walls and huge spaces.
The residential neighborhood of the Arenale, is less grand, but very lovely.
There are a few boutique hotels and charming canal houses with small gardens that during the warmer seasons, are used to grow a small vegetable gardens in.
We had no plans and no goals for the day….which felt heavenly.
I find it very relaxing to stretch time and to have no agenda….and I welcome these days.
We only had tickets to a concert playing Mozart and Vivaldi, later that night.
The concert was to be played at an old jail house which is connected to the Doge’s (Duke) Palace by the “Bridge of Sighs”…….. Named this way because of the sighs and cries uttered by the people who heard their sentences as they were led to jail.
I enjoyed “painting” abstract paintings with the reflections on the canals.
The water in the canal reflected the colors of the building and boats, in the most beautiful ways….all I had to do was wait for a boat or a swan to disturb the water by movement, and to create an interesting pattern…and I zoomed in my camera.
I am adding my abstract “Venice Reflections” photos above
