zeke and wendy

day 1 at museo fortuny

so this is what researching looks like…

because i’m not allowed to take pictures of the cool stuff.  but they did say they could provide pictures for me of some things i’ll write about in my 4th chapter, and the head of archives told me that no one had written on these pieces before (an art historian’s dream) or exhibited them.  i also met a co-curator at the museum who was very helpful, friendly, and interesting.

 the museum is in the middle of being closed for 2 months, so the atmosphere is a bit strange with lots of construction and staff busy working on the next show.  but with it being closed to the public, i was given privileged access to pieces i’m writing on in my 3rd chapter.

tomorrow i go back for more notebooks and a painting.

and from this evening’s trip to the grocery store- here’s more proof that venetian ladies love their fur.

my day in pictures

i don’t have the time to narrate, but i will make an exception for the picture of the large beautiful piazza (halfway down).  as i walked through this gorgeous tranquil spot a man seated on a park bench blared cher’s ‘if i could turn back time’ on his boom box.  

another great day in venice.

LOTS of pictures from Venice

i (wendy) am here in venice for phd research.  (yes, choosing a subject area where the resources are in venice was a conscious choice.)

i love being here in winter! compared to how crowded it was in summer, the city feels deserted (in a non-creepy way).  the locals are out like normal and are much more charming when not being annoyed by barrages of tourists. 

the first day i was here was the last day of the exhibition ‘Venice e l’Egitto’ at the Palazzo Ducale.  it had some interesting ties to my research and i’m glad i got see it, along with touring the Doge’s palace (on right in pic below).   also, i got the youth discount without asking, apparently i can pass for 25 or under (woot woot night cream).

here are some iPhone shots i got with captions underneath:

george clooney advert at the piazzette s. marco

sunset from the balcony of the palazzo ducale

sunset and reflection from the palazzo ducale

atlas flanking the golden staircase (palazzo ducale)

golden staircase (palazzo ducale)

view of venice from inside the ‘bridge of sighs’ connecting the sentencing rooms of the palazzo to the prison

other side from within the ‘bridge of sighs’

winter sunset at piazzette s. marco

hello again, tetrarchs.

lots of italian ladies are wearing fur coats.

today i finally went inside basilica san marco thinking of proust and ruskin and my friends bethie (from brevard) and ashley (who hung out with me in a few italian cathedrals). there was no wait at all and i stayed as long as i wanted (until i almost hunger-fainted because i love me some italian churches)

inside the basilica some italian ladies asked me about one part of the church.  i managed two sentences of dialogue before they said ‘you’re not italian are you?’ but hey, it’s the 2nd time in 2 days that i’ve been assumed to be italian and at least my speaking wasn’t so bad that they knew right off.

there are no pics allowed in the church, hence why these are iPhone pics of the floor and outside:

beautiful mosaic floors

my gold herringbone toms on the mosaic floor

san marco <3s Doge

on the roof of the basilica

view of the clock tower from the roof

view of the piazzette from the roof of the basilica

doge hanging out with san marco, the winged lion

i wandered back to the apartment and on the way picked up a present for zeke in a cool man store and went into a thrift shop and got a cool button for my sad cardigan. in the tiny square behind san toma (near the apartment) there were many parents who had just picked up their kids from school and were taking them into this beautiful shop for hot chocolate.  it was the most luxurious hot chocolate i’ve ever seen (think real european drinking chocolate) and the children were singing and skipping out.  it was wonderful!

this shop made me miss dairy pretty hard.  but i did get an espresso and watch everyone dip spoons into their hot chocolate.

then i saw these penguins in a bathroom shop on the way home:

zeke would love a penguin rubbish bin!

tonight zeke and i have a dinner date via videochat (thanks for that idea katherine and grant) and then i’ll write a bit more.

here’s my little studio apartment:

i get to write beneath a venetian chandelier! so glam.

there’s a little kitchenette that connects the living/sleeping room to the bathroom.  my favourite part is the ceiling and hanging light above this nook:

the rest of the week is devoted to the textiles museum, Ca Mocenigo, and the Fortuny museum where i’ll be in the archives again!

hello america (holiday edition) and hello britain

the last week spent in america was great.  we got to see more friends and family and had a few more burritos. 

here’s a photo of the new year’s eve family jam session referenced in the last post:

 we made it safely back to manchester, despite the snow in DC.

wendy got to hear a favourite professor from UNC come speak in manchester and afterwards caught up with katherine and resumed american tv night.

we brought back a few crazy flavoured M&Ms for our british friends to try, so here’s hello america (holiday edition) with ellie, helen w. and helen h. and what they thought of cinnamon, coconut, and pretzel M&Ms:

soon after we got back we also got to host friends from america for the weekend.  hailey, a close middle-school friend of wendy’s (our british friends loved her alabama accent), and her husband stayed with us as part of their 15 day tour of the UK from Edinburgh to Southampton.  we got to introduce them to a few british things.  so here is hello britain and what they thought of banoffee pie:

we are happy to get back into our manchester lives and see our friends here.  next week wendy is off to venice for research at the fortuny museum and to meet with academics.

2.5 weeks in pictures

before we left manchester we had a couple of friends over for sugar cookie decorating- a smith family tradition.  zeke went for the 12 days of christmas as his theme:

we went to london and stopped by the portobello rd market (with all of the other tourists and hugh grant fanatics) mainly so zeke could get this sandwich:

we went to see matthew bourne’s nutcracker that night. it was a very fun production (people were actually laughing out loud).

then we had dessert at a cafe near our hotel where a group of old men were getting quite competitive about their chess matches.  (see wendy’s vegan option compared to zeke’s dairy-laden awesomeness)

the next day we split off so that zeke could go to the natural history museum to see the dinosaurs…

and wendy did a quick bit of researching inside the national gallery…

below is a piece on the 4th plinth in london that wendy had just lectured about with her class:

before we left london we met up with a friend from the summer camp we worked at last summer who lives near the tower of london.  we had a great time catching up and then attended a carol service at her church which is right next to the ‘gherkin’ building.  it was a really nice time.  we even saw a few other friends there!

then we woke up monday morning and headed to heathrow. our flight was a little late, but overall it was an easy trip. we picked up our rental car (zeke laughed that wendy picked one with a sun roof, but it has been so warm here that we’ve used it a lot!) and within half an hour we stopped for our first burritos of the trip! 

we drove to the cabin and saw family there before heading to the triangle area to see zeke’s brother alex and his wife olynda.  we took a stroll through their neighbourhood, ate more mexican food and north carolina BBQ, and watched carolina basketball. see alex and wendy enjoying the park down the street:

then we went back to VA for christmas with the mcpherson and ligon families (pics to come) and headed to greenville to see zeke’s family on the 26th.  

yes, that is a light saber. playing with the kids was super fun (despite caitlin’s frowny face, i think she had fun too).

we also have been struck by how the stereotypes of america are sometimes true, but still awesome.  after being gone a while, it does seem funny that we have starbucks inside of stores with shopping carts that have cupholders. yes, you could make fun of us for being so fat and lazy that we need caffeine and cupholders to do our grocery shopping- but on the other hand… have you tried it? it’s awesome. and look how big those aisles are! (insert british joke about needing room for overweight americans.)

then wendy went to concord to see her grandmama, who is recovering from her last stay in the hospital.  she was in good spirits and really liked the calendar we gave her of the queen’s royal palaces.  she rather likes the queen.

then wendy joined ashley, maria, and cam at ashley’s mom’s house in concord for a girly sleepover complete with nail painting, hair curling, and presents by the fire.  it was lots of fun!

here are everyone’s paraffin wax hands.

cam says they’re like dead mummy hands.

then wendy met zeke, his mom, alex, and olynda at the NC museum of art where they had just seen the rembrandt exhibition. (they’re big fans, being dutch and all.)  

they joked that here, rembrandt painted the first bluetooth.

then we went back to VA and spent new year’s eve with wendy’s dad and his family playing music and Xbox kinect.  wendy’s dad played electric guitar with jeremy and uncle big john on drums and wendy on bass guitar.  it was fun, but i don’t think recording contracts are up any time soon.

then we spent new years day at the cabin watching lots of football…

in our fan gear

matching fleece football pants were a great present from zeke’s mom.

check out that throwback panthers mug (and the manicure).

we’ve got one more week to see friends and eat more burritos, then it’s back to england where it’ll be good to get back into our routine and see our sweet manchester friends again.

market monday

the past few weeks have been quite busy as we wrap up things in manchester to spend a few weeks back in the US for christmas.  tonight we went to wendy’s advisor’s house for a nice get together of american comrades.  on the rainy bus ride back home we realised zeke wouldn’t get to go to the christmas markets this year because of our busy schedules.  so we did the logical thing and…

went straight to albert square so zeke could have his beloved pork sandwich!

it was a really quick stop, but a good way to kick off our last (for 2011) week in manchester.

edinburgh

here are a few pictures from wendy and maria’s time in edinburgh last week.  we were lucky to have great weather!

uncompleted 19th century monument to scottish soldiers based on the parthenon

dog in the window of an old scotch whisky shop

the castle

george street christmas market

bacon, fireworks, and candy

zeke brought back tons of american treats from his recent trip to asheville.  and in another instalment of hello america, dan tried a few of them:

hello america: halloween edition

then on saturday we went to platt fields park to celebrate guy fawkes day aka: bonfire night. US friends, you may know a little about this from the movie V for Vendetta. to learn more you can play this game: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/games/gunpowder/index.shtml

but overall it is quite a strange holiday that seems really just to be about blowing stuff up (which sounds more american than english, really).

we met some friends and started the night off with sparklers

then masses of people crowded inside the park to watch the 20 minute fireworks display. 

then after the fireworks, they started a really huge bonfire.  some places apparently burn an effigy of guy fawkes!  quite macabre for a country that doesn’t even like halloween.

the park is also filled with fair rides, games, and food stalls.  zeke and our friends katherine and claire rode this:

it was a bit scary that their ride had to be stopped and restarted before the giant pendulum hurled them upward.  the flashing strobe lights were enough excitement for those of us in the tame crowd waiting below.

afterwards zeke got a chilli dog…

and chips for wendy at this place:

yes, it says ‘made in heaven’.

but at least we didn’t eat here:

can you believe there’s a queue for this?

guy fawkes day is such a spectacle.  november is a pretty fun month around here, because not too long after bonfire night the christmas markets come!

also this weekend zeke got a special treat… 

american bacon! (which here is called ‘streaky bacon’)  he ate half of the pack on saturday and the other half on sunday (!) when wendy made biscuits and fried eggs to go with it.

it was the first time vegetarian wendy had ever cooked bacon and she kept thinking it’s no wonder we americans have a reputation for being unhealthy… that being said, the unhealthy food consumed this week (documented in this post) has made us quite happy and fed our nostalgia for home.