(no subject)
Venice is at its most beautiful in the evening. It is really quiet. You can hear the water against the shore, and the gondolas swishing through the water, and ppl laughing. You can buy a glass of wine and drink it outside by the canal. Also it is of course nice and cool. We went out in the evening to see San Marco’s Basilica again. I would recommend seeing it in the evening. It, and the huge square in front of it, are well lit. There are famous café’s arrayed around the square, all of which have live gypsy or classical bands playing outside. The square is large enough that 3 good sized bands can play and not interfere with each other or dominate the space. We wandered around to listen to each. But I could only look at the basilica. I’m not sure if its architectural, or age, or wealth or some metaphysical reason, but the basilica seems rooted to the earth in a way that I’ve only seen once before. It seems like its foundation reaches down to the very center of the earth, such a solid feeling it gives. The other buildings in the square, by comparison, seems like they should be floating away, and when I was they I thought that they could not last long. I said that I have seen this once before. I got the same feeling from an old church about 40 minutes outside of Kyoto. Looking at it I expected to see lighting flash at any moment (and maybe a voice proclaim “ONLY THE PURE OF HEART MAY ENTER!“). It looked like it had been there from when the earth began. The basilica gives the same impression.