Festivals!

It is Festival time . . .



We hit up a couple of local festivals the last two weekends. (By the way, I have no idea why this is all underlined . . . I don't even see an option for underline!). Our first stop was the Basket Festival in Polcenigo, which is about 15-20 minutes from our house. I know what you are thinking. Basket Festival, how boring! Well, we actually didn't buy a basket but totally fell in love with Polcenigo and the idea of festivals. This was the first time that we arrived at a festival in time to see stuff. We have happened across plenty of festivals as they were being set up but never got to see anything. If you actually get there when everything is ready to go and people are arriving, you can try wine and local food, hear music, and look at lots of booths.



A cool and old building on the top of the hill in Polcenigo. We never figured out what it was but it was fun to look at:)



Dear Dogs and Puppies, Do not poop here please (or these weird little tree men will get you while you are sleeping).



The next day we headed to Venice to see our friends, Abby and Greg Dennis. They were in town following a week of hiking in the Alps. After meeting up with them, we took the vaporetto (water bus) out to Murano to check out the glass factories. These nice men gave us a demonstration of glass blowing and then ushered us into their shop. It was amazing how quickly this guy made this vase. It took less than 10 minutes.




Then he made this horse in less than 5!



After Murano, we headed back to the main island to watch the annual regata. Like everything else in Europe, this has been going on for many years and features several different events. The sidewalks along the canals were lined with spectators. If visitors were to do it right, they would get a room in one of the fancy hotels overlooking the canal and watch from their window. We, of course, did not plan that far ahead and are far too cheap for that kind of entertainment!



All motorized boats were banned but the gondolas could still go. That would be second to your own hotel room for best spectator spot. I believe the guys in the striped shirts are former gondoliers.



Next, they had a youth race. Each team had two boats. It was fun watching them race. Unfortunately, they tended to run their boats into each other frequently.



The next event was the parade of old boats and people in traditional costumes. These boats were incredibly elaborate. Some were really big as well and took a small army to row.



Since we had only been walking for 10 or so hours by this point, we decided to head back to our hotel, quickly change clothes, and catch a vaporetto to the Venice Film Festival on the tiny island of Lido. First of all, while Lido is part of Venice, it is nothing like the Venice you will think of. It has cars and scooters, which is something you will never see in the main part of Venice. It also has beautiful houses, green space, and nice beaches allegedly - they are difficult to see at night! This picture is of the casino that housed most of the auxiliary events to the festival.



The main theater for fancy people. The public theater was down the street.



We watched the lead up to a Chilean film, Post Mortem, because that was what was going on when we got there. No idea who these stars are but they certainly did a good job hamming it up for cameras and fans! As luck would have it, everyone who we had heard of had either already made their appearance earlier that week or were scheduled for after we left! Next year . . .



Kwame outside the canal the back of the casino and theater.



On Monday, we took a quick (free) tour of San Marcos Basilica. You are not supposed to take pictures but I (along with the other 10,000 people in there) snuck in a few.



I was actually scolded for taking this one. It figures that out of everyone taking pictures, the security guard would pick me to tell to put my camera away. By the way, communion was happening a little to the left of this picture. Most people looked like tourists. This tiny little boy made his way to the front of the line. The priest talked to him for a second and proceeded to give it to him. Maybe he was very small for his age?



The last thing we did on this trip was go to the Leonardo da Vinci Machines in Motion exhibit. This is a traveling exhibit. I highly recommend it if you ever have the chance to see it. Some of the machines were hands on which was fun. It is amazing how much of our current technology was influenced by da Vinci's ideas and early inventions.



Last night, we headed to Budoia for the 43rd annual mushroom festival. Our friends, Hanna and Kevin, live in Budoia so we parked at their house and walked to the center of town. They take their mushrooms very seriously here. Apparently 23 people died trying to collect mushrooms this year for this festival!



This festival was mainly centered around incredible food and drink. We all ate too much (but it was worth it). The highlight of the evening was the entertainment, Giancarlo and the Santa Monica Band:)



Kwame won this gelatto cup for me. What a guy!