Yesterday was quite a full day.  Started off early and headed to the Accademia (with a quick stop at the American Express office - actually, not such a quick stop, as Chris just pointed out while reading over my shoulder.  And talk about not glamorous - it's also a Western Union office...)

Anyhoo, we took a quick tour of the Accademia.  I have to confess, I was still a bit jet-lagged and tired (and maybe a little hungover), so I was at my most Philistine-ish. I enjoyed looking around, but was anxious to move on.

Next stop was the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. This remains a really delightful oasis of modern art in the center of Venice.  We looked at most of the small and very impressive collection, plus made a really quick run through the special exhibition of mid 19th and early 20th century art.  And of course, the sculpture garden is as lovely as ever.

From here we did our usual "try to find a particular restaurant and get completely lost in the process".  But since we know this would happen, it was fine.  We were in a part of the city we hadn't seen before, so just wandering up and down the narrow streets and along the canals was great fun.

We did eventually find the Locanda Montin, with it's large garden patio out back (we were the only patrons when we arrived, though a French couple showed up a bit later).  The food was very tasty.  Caprese salad with OK tomatoes and absolutely delicious mozzarella; then, for me, house-made tortelloni, filled with cheese and arugula in a tomato-basil sauce; and for Chris, meltingly tender and fluffy gnocchetti with shrimp and asparagus, served gratineed.

After lunch, we headed to the Frari church.  We'd brought along a Rick Steve's podcast audio tour - nice to have, though the commentary veers into "cutesy" sometimes.  Titian's altar piece was incredible - and it's always much nicer to have a little historical context when looking at great art.  Apparently, his portrayal of Mary as very human (even sexy) was quite shocking at the time.

Home for a nap, then off to dinner at Ristorante Riviera. Since we'd already reconnoitered it earlier, we thought finding it again would be a snap.  Hah!  Got more lost than usual, in a part of town we hadn't seen before...  So, I had to practice my Italian - I asked a lady (who'd just finished up yelling her conversation to her friend leaning out a second-story window.  Molto Italiano...) how to get where we were going.  She walked us most of the way, taking us along a dirt path behind the military barracks (along with her beagle, Paco), keeping up a stream of conversation, about half of which I was able to understand and respond to.  She was a real savior and so very kind...

So, we finally found the restaurant.  Things got started off well when the brought us each a glass of Prosecco before we'd even gotten our menus - surely the way to our hearts is with free booze.

At the recommendation of our waiter, we shared scallops served atop artichoke hearts to start.  They were very nice - Italian scallops are typically served with the "cord" still attached, the orange muscle that I assume is attached to the shell.  Chris and I were both a bit trepidatious, fearing that some sort of substance would come shooting out of it when cut.  But it turned out to be tender and delicious.

Next, we had an excellent risotto with shrimp and asparagus.  Tender rice and fresh juicy shrimp - my only quibble was that it was a bit undersalted.

For dinner, we had a grilled branzino, brought whole to the table where our waiter expertly removed the head and bones before serving us.  The fish was wonderful - simply prepared, impeccably fresh and delicious.  Along with this, we had fritto misto: calamari, more scallops, sardines.  This too was very good, everything crispy, hot and very fresh.

The only disappointment?  They'd run out of dessert!  They did offer biscotti and sweet wine, which actually sounded perfect.  And the wine was - but the biscotti were essentially the Italian version of Keebler's.  Oh well - our waiter further ameliorated the situation with a round of limoncello.

During dinner, we did our usual eavesdropping and then attempting to analyze the group.  We thought it was a bunch of Americans all from the same cruise ship (and, we guessed, McCain supporters), based on the extensive discussion of cruises and their various pros and cons (one woman was going on and on about Princess vs. Carnival...  "If they could see me now...").

On the way out, we chatted a bit with them - turned out they're all on a tour together...  And they all support Obama, including the lady from northern Viriginia and the two Canadians (who told us to look them up if we're forced to flee to Toronto when President Palin starts rounding up the queers...).  So, as usual, even though we'd had fun jumping to conclusions and mocking them, they turned out to be as nice as can be.

We also chatted a bit with the couple on our opposite side.  We'd heard them say they were from Atlanta - but turns out only of late.  She was Brazilian, he was from upstate NY, and they'd also lived in Walnut Creek.  And like me, she is something of an amateur travel writer.  I don't think we exchanged names (or was I too in my cups to recall?), but I did give her my website.  So, if you're reading this, Signora Atlanta-Brazil, buongiorno e grazie!

Back home to pack up for our early trip to Rome.  As much as I'm looking forward to getting there, I'm very sad to be leaving Venice - there's so much still to see and do...

Ciao, cari!

Interview with Pablo Georgieff from Coloco @ Venice Biennale

We live in an epoque in which the end of the resources and the rise of global population force us to choose between war or conviviality.
As declared partisans of the latter option, we need to learn how to economize all that it is not renewable, and to recycle everything as much as we can.
Time will be an essential component of our work, as we have to deal with life. Today, we are called to think at the reversibility of our manufacts, without capturing resources and creating constrains which will narrow the future choices.

Coloco is a Paris-based collective of "explorers of urban diversity". Rather than a conventional architects, people at Coloco think themselves more as

Active gardeners, we don't recognize ourselves into the corporative borders of our discipline. On the contrary, we became a symbiotic structure aggregating knowledge and skills we need for every different project. A living structure evolving in response to the environment.

We had the chance to meet Pablo Georgieff at the Venice Biennale. Here's a report of our talk.

Would you like to explain to us the theme of your installation here at the Biennale?

Our presentation here at the Biennale is just a mosaic of some projects that we have been working on in the last eight or nine years. It's kind of a genealogic tree connecting projects with one another, sort of families of projects: our works on abandoned buildings, on spontaneous gardens in the cities, landscape works from very small individual gardens to the green belt we are now working on in Tripoli, Libia. It's a cross-scale project with some topics that we are interested in, that we think important for our practice and that we call Urbanodiversity.

Can you explain the idea behind this term?

Urbanodiversity is the idea that the city’s richness depends on variety of activities, situations, living beings that can be hosted in it, and it is the opposite of the generic, monotonous, functionalist city.
We believe that very different interesting situations can occur in accidents, in small places, in what we call 'turbulences' of the flux of people, materials and information of the city, where creative behavior, new experiences, new solutions can be born.

You use the metaphor of fluid dynamics in the city...

We see urbanism as an 'aerodynamic' discipline, based on movement, fluxes and energy, and no more based on dead matter and materials, as it was in the past.
We think that it is necessary now to work seriously on the living, human material of the city. The city is not just a collection of bricks, or more or less sophisticated materials in more or less fancy shapes, but it's also a set for relationships, for stories, for love and hate. This is something we would like to use as material for our projects. We don't mean to quantify human parameters in the way social disciplines do, but to engage individuals into action.

You also present a different insight on nature, different from the idea we are used to

We always want to remind that there's nothing ‘behind’ nature. Nature is not opposite to anything, because everything is part of nature. There are just different environments, different equilibriums. We have been consulted last year by the municipality of Paris asking us where the new nature spaces in Paris would be. We answered that there would be no new nature spaces, for nature is already everywhere. We proposed to call this project 'Welcoming Diversity'. It's about creating the living conditions for life forms and the relationships between them.

That's not really a common task for architects. For example, in the Arsenale you can't even touch objects that are supposed to be furniture. Weird situation. Our job is supposed to be about hosting life... Of course there are also positive examples: now this interview is taking place at the Biennale in a semi-underground space with lots of cushions on the floor, outside it is raining very heavy and this has become a very interesting place: everybody is talking with one another, meeting. In this Biennale places to exchange ideas are very rare, and this space is a real success just because we can use it and it is welcoming.

What are the tools you developed to achieve, or to deal with, this Urbanodiversity?

We are trying to work on tools that help us to integrate time in our projects. It is not a thing completely out of the blue, or completely new, or never seen, but we are trying to introduce chronograms as information-exchange and project-driving tools with the clients. We were thinking about how to improve participation, working together, operational sequences to give also the possibility to have spontaneous collaborations, to have optimizations, to have inventions. To do that, you always have to know what is going on, in what sequences, what is necessary to do first, what you have to prepare in order to make things happen, etc.
For example, next year we will have this project in Brazil for the French cultural season. After some proposals and negotiations we have been given a 20-storey building from the Sixties in the center of the city which is now empty. We have suggested activating it as a cultural laboratory during the eight months of the season. Also, it will serve as a negotiation platform to decide what to do with this building, to see if an entity emerges out of this experience that can make this building function with a mix of dwellings, cultural workshops, communication, etc.
In this experience we really don't know what is going to happen: our aim is to set up the tools by which all people involved can share ideas, and finally act together. This is what we call 'process architecture', which is not about the final form, but how we can work with one another, how you can find places where you can discuss, making the project evolve and in the end to create the possibility to really invent something together.

Here's a little checklist of what we've done and what we still need to do:

[X] Flight from Rome to London

[ ] Hostel in London

[X] Tickets to Les Mis

[X] Flight from London to Paris

[ ] Hostel in Paris

[ ] Flight / Train from Paris to Neuchatel

[ ] Hostel in Neuchatel

[ ] Flight / Train from Neuchatel to Venice

[ ] Hostel in Venice

[ ] Train from Venice to Perugia

Needless to say, I'm moderately stressed.

Arrivederci,

Jordan.

Until then, have a very literal interpretation of a-ha's 'Take On Me' video...

This trip has truly humbled me.

I have seen much of Italy and the country's majestic beauty has left me speechless.

I remember wondering around Roman ruins just slightly over 24 hours earlier, contemplating on art, life and all my earlier travels.

Like the day before I was in Pisa, gazing at the Leaning Tower, and the day before in Venice, and the day before that, wondering around Turin, and before that, climbing the Swiss Alps... and the list goes on.

But the actual contrast and culture shock (if that is possible, after 24 days of travel) is that I was at work at my desk and then asked to go for the company's Oktoberfest with two editors.

I remember consuming copious amounts of alcohol and talking about work with the editors and colleagues and then feeling like I have fallen into my old pattern of life here as though nothing has ever changed.

But I know something has changed. And that was me, still thinking about the beauty that exists in other parts of the world, like Rome, which is laden with unspeakable treasures, and I am rendered mute.

And I know I can never look at the world the same way, ever again.

Renaissance Venice was astonishingly good at PR - the city sold itself as a place of unique harmony, freedom and prosperity, specially favoured by God. Should we take the Venetian publicists at their own estimation? How did the ordinary man or woman in the street manage on a day-to-day basis? Given the gulf that existed between the poor who pledged their children against loans and the rich who carried a fortune in clothes on their backs, how did society hold together? What was the social cement? We present here evidence and invite you use them as a starting point in thinking about possible answers to these problems. There is difficulty in knowing anything about the poor and illiterate, those who lived on the margins of society, for they were powerless to tell their own story; it was the literate elite who recorded what was inevitably a partial and prejudiced account of the lives of the poor.

[video] Pink Floyd - Money (Venice 1989) Guigui31b on youtube

So, off we went in our super glamorous water taxi to our semi-glamorous B&B.  Larry, one of the owners, met us where the taxi dropped us off - and thank god...  There is no way we would've found this place on our own.  This city is a maze...

Had something of a near-nervous-breakdown as various electronic gear I'd brought (SIM card for phone, electrical adapters, etc.) failed to operate in the prescribed manner - very frustrating, but semi-resolved by the next day.

We went out to dinner and got quite lost quite quickly - which after being en route for the previous 16 hours was something of a nightmare...  And once we did manage to find the place we were looking for it was full...  But we did manage to find another place in the guidebook and had a pleasant albeit unremarkable meal.

After dinner (and two bottles of very good, very inexepensive vino), we had a lovely and leisurely walk back to Corte 1321, our B&B.  At this point, we'd cast off most of the apprehension that tends to accompany showing up in a foreign city - the stroll home was wonderful.  We got a bit lost, but enjoyed every moment of wandering up the narrow streets and crossing bridges...  A perfect way to end a long day.

Venice Farmers Market Detail

 

Day: Friday

Hours: 7:00 AM to 11:00 AM

Location: Venice Way &
Venice Blvd

City: Venice

County: Los Angeles

Manager: James Murez

Office Address: 804 Main St.,
Venice, CA 90291

Phone: 310-399-6690

 

 

 

What's Fresh Right Now

•       Walnuts
•       Winter Squash
•       Pomegranates
•       Beets
•       Grapes
•       Limes
•       Asian Pears
•       Mushrooms
•       Mandarin Oranges
•       Green beans
•       Honey
•       Chinese Broccoli
•       Tangerines
•       Spinach
•       Brussel Sprouts
•       Persimmons
•       Avocadoes

 

 

Venice is one of the community's fortunate enough to have a Certified Farmers Market (CFM)!  Supporting your local Farmers Market not only gives you the freshest fruits and vegetables but it's also a way to give your local small business owners the support they need to stay in business in an age of large chain stores. So, go on down Fridays between 7 am and 11 am to the Venice Farmers Market this week and every week!

 This message is supported by James90210 on Active Rain, Localism and all other blogs.

 

[caption id="attachment_204" align="alignnone" width="445" caption="Holiday Decorations Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade 2007"][/caption]

Please give us a call at (949) 675-0551 with any questions when planning your holiday cruise and/or check out our website: www.christmasparadeboats.com

The Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade is the premier Christmas event not only for Orange County and Los Angeles but Southern California. This year marks 100 years of history for the Newport Harbor Christmas Boat Parade and is viewed by over a million people each year, the Newport Beach Christmas Parade of Lights is not only the oldest but largest boat parade on the West Coast.

Newport Landing offers cruises in the parade which are very popular for company holiday parties. Along with the novelty of having a holiday party that is actually cruising in the Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade , a holiday cruise is a great choice for cost conscious groups. There are some important details to know when planning your holiday cruise.

[caption id="attachment_237" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Company Christmas Party 2007"][/caption]

While Friday and Saturday night of the Christmas Boat Parade are the most requested dates for company holiday parties, the other days of the parade offer some distinct advantages. Parking can be especially challenging during the Friday and Saturday nights of the Boat Parade. We always recommend prepaying with the Newport Landing parking structure for parking. Another great option is to rent a bus and come in as one group. Unlike Friday and Saturday, the other nights of the parade offer all of the décor and parade happenings with less of the congestion traveling to the Balboa peninsula. Once the parking has been solved for the rest is smooth sailing.

When planning your Newport Beach Holiday Cruise the topic of food and what format is the best for maximizing your experience. Sit down dinner options are popular, but we find that buffets or even hors d’ oeuvres allow for more mingling and the flexibility to move around the boat to view all of the festivities. An added plus with the buffet option or hors d’oeuvres is the cost per person is usually much lower than a full sit down dinner.

[caption id="attachment_195" align="alignnone" width="320" caption="Holiday Party Decor 2007"][/caption]

Along with the food come the drinks. A full service bar with bartender is included with every cruise. The question for many company holiday planners is how to structure the bar. An open bar or unlimited available drinks for your guests can sound like a very expensive proposition, but in reality rarely is. Most guests on a holiday cruise are not going to abuse complimentary drinks either for fear of later embarrassment or just as good form. The result is on average, open bars result in about 2 drinks per person. For guests that can push the drinking envelope we can provide a drink package with a fixed cost regardless of what is consumed. Other options include drink tickets or drink credit after which the guest pays or just a cash bar option. But for the added cost the open bar is a nice gesture and a good cost/benefit decision.

[caption id="attachment_264" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="One of hundreds of decorated boats in the parade 2007."][/caption]

A simple yet often overlooked detail that adds value during the holiday cruise and long after is pictures. There is nothing that creates more buzz than taking pictures of the parade, décor, and most importantly the guests. Pictures capture the moment and with all of the visuals and guests that are in a different element the resulting photographs take on a presence of there own. A number of companies that have come out with us were surprised and how long after the holiday season the pictures of their holiday party were the topic of discussion in the lunch room. And for those companies inviting key customers or vendors sending pictures to them even via email is a great way to tie the event into a long lasting memory. Nothing fancy is needed and sometimes is nice to have several individuals with digital cameras (recommended type) and you get a different flavor of photos from each individual.

We have several other suggestions to make the most of your holiday cruise event, but if you touch on the topics above when planning your holiday cruise you will be well on your way to a fun and memorable holiday company event.

Please give us a call at (949)-675-0551 with any questions when planning your holiday cruise or check out our website http://www.christmasparadeboats.com

Late, as always...here are picture of Italy from a few weeks ago...just for you, mom.

Venice

Gondolas

From the canals of Venice, Gondoliers for Obama: Part One. And Part Two. Bellissimo! [via designobserver]

]]> http://oddtag.wordpress.com/?p=512 Mon, 06 Oct 2008 06:34:48 +0000 OddTag http://oddtag.com/2008/10/06/like-an-italian-workday-like-what/ [txt] Venice Biennale Review - www.archinect.com

The Venice Biennale has an overwhelming presentation of design that is not overly coherent. Forget trying to see it all. Take it in like an Italian workday; expresso, then one hour of exhibit, followed by another espresso and brioche, followed by the next hour, and so on. Or take a break over at the Stalker/ Osservatorio Nomade exhibit and have your I Ching foretold, like architects such as Peter Eisenmann, who I've heard ritually does this. I am taking with me from the Biennale a hazy memory of craft, digitization, urban solutions and a reading of good fortune for the year.

[img] Lavoro Mattutino Venezia - Mercato di Rialto - raiadiff on flickr.com

One of the most well-known international festivals, the Venice Carnival is a festival of colorful mask. The streets of Venice are full with people in masks. The Venetian Carnival still follows the traditional way of celebration. From your holiday apartments or hotel apartments you can have a complete view of the Carnival.

special thanks to steven wauters who threw the confetti

And it was...  hmmm...  how shall I say this?  Horrible.  Not the basilica itself, but the hordes and hordes of people.  Just completely hellish.  And from what I understand, the crowds we saw today really weren't that bad.  We stood in line for not too long to see the interior of the basilica - very nice, but again with so many people crammed into the small aisles, it was hard to appreciate.

Our difficulties with electronics continued.  Before we left, I'd downloaded podcasts of tours of the Basilica and the Palazzo Ducale.  As it turned out, I'd neglected to put them on my iPod - and Chris' iPod ceased operating under mysterious circumstances.  Our plans for the day were already getting a bit ragged... as were we.

So, we rode to the top of the Campanile.  The view of Venice was quite amazing from up there. After that, we beat a hasty retreat from San Marcos, off in search of the Ca' Pesaro, home to the Galleria dell'Arte Moderna and the Museo Orientale.

What a fine choice.  Both of us felt a million times better away from the cruise ship masses and enjoyed our rather meandering progress.  On the way, we passed through the open air fish market, taking in live eels, mountains of shrimp and beautiful fresh fish of all sorts.

Ca' Pesaro is a  palazzo from the 1700's, now home to a couple of museum spaces.  The collection of modern art was not large, but we enjoyed what we saw - especially the sculptures by Adolfo Wildt.  Also took a quick spin through the Museo Orientale, which focused largely on Japanese weaponry and decorative arts.

Stopped for lunch at Al Nono Risorto and had OK pizza and very nice wine, served in their large walled garden.  People watching was great here - both inside and out - and more than made up for the just-OK pizza...

Back to Corte 1321 for a lie-down (well, a three hour nap in Chris' case) and then had to decide on dinner plans.  The original choice was already fully-booked, so we decided to try a place in a recent NYTimes article.  I called and reserved for 9, which was easy enough - despite the fact that the place is closed on Tuesdays as we discovered later that evening.  Quite mysterious...  I'm still not quite sure who answered the phone and took my reservation...

So, after deciding on a new place, we set off to find it - never an easy task.  It took us awhile, but once we found Boccadoro, it was like an oasis.  Set on a large campo, we were unsure why we hadn't been able to get to it from one street over - I guess we still think of cities being laid in a grid and Venice is most decidedly not.

Boccadoro turned out to be a perfect choice.  A rather traditional restaurant with white tablecloths and a very charming hostess and server, who made a number of very nice recommendations for both wine and food.

We shared an antipasti of boiled fish - shrimp, langoustine, octopus, sardines - all fresh as can be and served simply.  My favorite was the sardine, a fish I tend to approach with trepidation (I was just reading that this is a bad habit of many Americans, who think only of the canned variety).  It was certainly more strongly flavored than the others, but it was topped with a marvelously fruity olive oil.

Next we shared black tagilarini with scallops and zucchini - really great, the pasta cooked to perfection and the scallops impeccably fresh.  The dish was very simply prepared - wonderfully so.

After our pasta, the chef arrived from the kitchen with two fresh fish - a John Dory and some type of flat fish (regrettably, I did not take a photo - but both fish were beautiful).  Upon his recommendation, we chose the John Dory and off he went back to kitchen to prepare it.

By this time, we'd become old friends with the couple sitting next to us, Bryan and Michelle, (from Berkeley no less) who were on the first day of their five-week stay in Venice (sigh...  five-weeks...).  We talked politics, food, travel...  Well, Chris and I talked (as is our wont) and they patiently listened...

Meanwhile, the fish arrived (again no picture - I think I was too busy making some point about Palin's horrific incompetence  to our new friends - you know, the usual...).  Very simple and wonderfully prepared.  Chris especially loved it, despite his misgivings about being served something with it's head still attached...  But our chef lopped off the head, removed the skin and bones and served us the filets, along with the potatoes and other vegetables cooked in a giant roasting pan.

No dessert tonight, as we finsihed up quite late and wanted to wander the city a bit.  We ended up back over at Piazzo San Marco.  What a difference.  It was nearly empty, save for the various restaurants on the square, some still playing live music.  We had a quick and not-too-hideously expensive glass of wine and then headed back to our little B&B.

And, so to bed, for another four or five hours of sleep - jetlag clearly not wearing off as fast as one might hope, which is kind of a drag.  But then I just remind myself, "You're in Venice" and that pretty much makes my day.

Ciao, cari!