DAY 32: Don't touch me I'm STARVING

If you've been to Vegas, you can understand our crew’s demeanor this morning… really I needn't say more, but recall crawling on hands and knees out of a casino, strip club, or any space that allows minimal, if any light, removing one’s time/day/place gage? 9 a.m. felt like a rhinoceros was sitting on my forehead… and why am I experiencing vertigo? It was a beautiful, sunshiny day brought to us by Nurse Vitamin-D… walking+fresh air= first steps to recovery. Carnivale ate us up and projectile spewed us into the Palazzo Grassi, a modern art museum that put a little pep in our shuffle. Hip-hop blared through the windows upon entering, with floor tiles that lit up- it was like psychedelic Twister meets Dance, Dance Revolution. We stood and stared for a good 10 minutes before travelling through rooms containing works by the masterminds of weird shit. Life size drill bits with porno collage coloring books lining the walls and through the window, astronauts sitting in a gondola in the canal. (WTF?) My favorite was “101 Art Ideas You Can Do Yourself:”

-Paparazzi your pet.

-Make a scent instillation: pine branch in your microwave, glass of cologne, fart.

-Publish your emails

-Frame a painting with a feather boa.

-Go on an urban animal safari- pigeons, rats, squirrels, cockroaches…

-Make mud: 2 parts dirt, one part water.

-Take Drugs

-Sprinkle glitter.

-Kill yourself.

-Title your life.

-Don’t clean your house and call it scatter art.

Part of the wolf pack had to scamper back to the hotel and sleep, so the rest of us searched the desert for the San Giovanni y Paulo Church… housed a great Bellini (the artist, not the cocktail) and intricate little rooms with great ceilings and Venetian sculptures. “Harv” took us to his favorite sandwich shop, "Lazzarini” with the friendliest guys and a killer Panini- parma ham, eggplant, zucchini, mozzarella, EVOO on a perfectly toasted roll… D-lish! (I’m running out of yummy vocabulary). We lost more soldiers, and Devon, Taylor and I were on a photography high, so we walked to another church with another Bellini and glass performers out front- they each had rolling carts full of water glasses and gently rubbed the rims serenading the crowd with Beethoven and Mozart.

Carnivale is Italy’s Halloween, Mardi Gras, New Years, Cinco de Mayo and Superbowl spread out over 10 days, with Friday being the most important day. Couples step back in time creating elaborate costumes that put Shakespeare In Love to shame. Imagining the time and effort and process it takes to build this wearable art is mind blowing. I mean, there was a man riding around on a mechanical snail... They even dress their dogs up to walk around, posing for photographers and tourists. I never realized Venice was where Lady Gaga’s stylist came for inspiration…

I received an email from a friend in Bozeman, recommending a great little restaurant called “al Covo.” I grabbed a few girls and walked to an intimate little cave, tucked back behind the hub-bub… the owners are a darling couple- she is from Texas, he is Italian, and they met in the States 25 years ago. They don’t use any butter or animal fat and everything is fresh from the market daily. We were lucky enough to be seated across from a family of ignorance (not immigrants, ignorance…) who brought their delightfully retched children along for a Friday night outing… these rug rats were screaming and hanging from the chandeliers like chimpanzees, but honestly, father dearest took the cake. Literally, and swallowed it in one bite. The “God Fatha” sat at the head of the table, with two empty chairs on either side creating “elbow room”… he received course after course, shoveling it in as fast as they could cook it. I felt like I was witnessing an eating contest (in horror) as he chewed with his mouth wide open, dribbling enough marinara down the front of himself to feed a family of shrews for a week. I nearly lost my appetite, BUT we shook it off and shared fried calamari, artichokes and polenta. I decided on black pasta- (fresh spaghetti noodles, boiled with squid ink) served with prawns and a light tomato sauce. When “Gus” set it in front of me, it’s aroma made the whole table drool- Y.U.M. A bottle of Sangiovese and total contentment later, we thanked the welcoming committee and grabbed a night cap at the IrishShark, our favorite (and only) Irish pub… procrastinating the endeavor of feeding our flock of backpacks.

One month feels like 5 days… Europe is flying by before my eyes! Continuing on to Ravenna tomorrow for more CHARTEUMS (church, art, museums…) Ciao ciao!