Highlights-Venice Day 3 (last day)
I read the lozenge box (dubious practice). Its active ingredient is flurbiprofen, which sounds like a children’s television program. People in the group asked Samantha why she doesn’t use the Viking paddle (red with white numbers, she called it a lollipop) to lead us around. Hmm, she doesn’t work for Viking? Duh! Just follow the person ahead of you. We were supposed to go single file to the Jewish Quarter this morning, but our line discipline was terrible. I stayed mum. No one wants an officious Naval Academy grad who isn’t the guide telling them what to do. The Venetians established the first Jewish ghetto in Europe in 1516. Was that a notable accomplishment? Compared to the Spanish Inquisition approach, “eat pork or die,” I guess so. When Napoleon defeated what remained of the Venetian Empire in 1804, the French did away with restrictions on where Jews could live. As one of the few republics in Europe, Venice frequently clashed with the Pope. The Pope and his minions suffered from mission creep. First it was spiritual authority, then it became who was in charge of civic order. That was a Venetian bridge too far for the rich capitalists, but still Catholic, of Venice. They refused to let papal authority override state law. After the 1606-7 interdict (the papal version of being taken to the woodshed), Venice’s reply was essentially: “We don’t need your stinkin’ interdict. Mass will continue, and clergy who disagree may discover our excellent deportation services.” That’s when the Jesuits, not the Jews, got booted. They backed the pope and learned that the lease on their property was only temporary. Uh oh. I went to the Peggy Guggenheim museum after the ghetto. There I appreciated the garden sculptures that looked like lava lamp blobs and the “they are in every modern art museum” white canvases. There was a very artsy table and chairs that looked like it could go in anyone’s house except for the “don’t sit here” sign on the table. Who would have guessed?