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Thanks,
Thanks You;
TM
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The Knopf guide really does not go into this, and I guess it really can not, but watch for the following and frankly, I dont mind paying, believe me, but I balked at a lot of the following:
1) Paying for every church you go into. Paying within the church to stand on the balcony, and then pay again to go into the crypt. Paying to light up every painting in the church you might be interested in looking at.
2) Paying every time you check your coat, and then charging you extra to hang an umbrella. The Venice casino was a JOKE for doing this.
3) Any gondolier by himself looking to give rides is double, if not triple charging.
4) Hotels will claim to be air conditioned, then charge you per night. If you dont buy the a/c they will fill your room with skeeters by leaving the windows wide open through dusk when you are outside eating.
5) The Jumping off point into the City from the mainland has 500 scams. Do not let your rental agent hire you a water taxi cause you will be charged way over. Any boat, car hire, porter, that is away from the main action is scamming.
I have always found that going into a small out of the way place with locals is part of the fun of being away, but Venetians do not want to socialize with you, the tourist, for the most part, while you are on the main islands. You can go out to the Lido for the day, or stay in a beach hotel there, and everyone is their good old normal self again. But do stay in Venice for a few nights, because despite all this, Venice is unique in the world, and you will feel like Othello when you walk around at night, or early in the morning you see a cat sleeping in an old well.
To avoid a lot of this, stick to Rick Steves. I think Rick is great in general, but his Italy books are indispensible. I wish to God I had it in Venice. But I have no regrets, because I felt something unique there. For a fleeting glance, like taking a gondola at night with a full moon, when, in the back of some palaces you see the old water entrance and egress, you see in the light, or how the shadows look, and you hear no cars, you see something identicle to the way it was 800 years ago. In most of Europe you cant do that. In Venice you can!
A visit to Venice is a jarring experience; Venice being like no other place on earth. The real 18th century (and older) architecture seems almost fake, you have to pinch yourself to be reminded that it's not a new Disney ride: "Pirates of the Adriatic." The Knopf guide prepares you for all this if you have the foresight to read it in advance, before taking your trip. There is too much to take in during the typical brief tourist visit. There's great advice about what to try to see with itineraries for a 1-day, 3-day and weeklong visit. A great piece of advice is to get a feel for Venice by staking out a seat in the rear open area of a waterbus. If you buy an inexpensive multi-day pass, this gives you a cheap but comprehensive tour of the city and let's you get off and on repeatedly wherever you like.
Venice hotel rooms are small and expensive. You will pay more for a small walk-in-closet-sized room than for a comfortable room with sitting area in Room or Milan. Despite this, I think it is necessary to stay overnight rather than make daytrips from outlying suburban hotels in order to get the true flavor of the city. Walking through Venice at night makes you feel like a character in Othello; you won't get that if you have to leave at the end of the day. The Knopf guide does include some hotel recommendations but it's very limited. A better bet for choosing a hotel would be the Michelin Red Guide Italy. The Red Guide just gives listings with abbreviations describing the accommodations. The Knopf guide can give you an idea about the neighborhood your hotel is in before making a specific choice from the Michelin Red Guide.
The Knopf will take you to places that the regular tourists don't know about. Once you get there, if you've read the book, you'll know much more about these places than even some of the natives! My favorite things: The historical photos in the front, the drawings and photos of art (I especially enjoy these after I come home and am feeling nostalgic), and the hotel and restaurant listings in the back.
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Until 5 prints of Mr. Rose's were included in the Whitney Biennial in 1997, few had seen his work. In fact, his first solo show came in 1998. Despite this, his oeuvre covers more than four decades and some of the best photography I have ever seen. You will find Mr. Rose to be a rewarding photographer who will remind you of some of the best of Edward Weston. His subjects in this outstanding volume of 100 color photographs include shells, New York City, the milky way, reflections, trees, leaves, the sun and clouds, and sky. His images are often created with very long exposures using early 20th century equipment and lenses. More recently, he often uses only pinholes and small aperature cameras. The book's only drawback is that Mr. Rose is fond of a four letter word beginning with "f" that appears several times in his interview.
Mr. Rose's work is mostly about light, and seeks to create a meditative mood. For example, the images of New York City are taken from very high perspectives and are almost abstract. You will be reminded of Cubist rectangles.
His shells are translucent and surreal. The milky way looks like fine bubbles in good champagne. The reflections are almost totally abstract and remind me of drip paintings. The trees and leaf photographs build on fractals as recurring images and provide a sense of optimism. The sun and cloud images are wonderfully romantic and mysterious. His images of the sky are done as circles that provide the impression of peering through the porthole of a space ship, an airplane, or a boat.
In each case, Mr. Rose is giving you a private view of the world that you have never seen before. These new subjective realities will inspire you to have new perceptions and thoughts.
The work evokes an earlier age, and will cause you to slow down and feel more comfortable. The images could easily have been done in the 1920s in terms of the feelings they evoke.
Unlike most books of photography, I do not need to issue any warnings about the images. Except for the language in the interview, this book would be rated "G" if it were a motion picture.
After you finish enjoying these wonderful images, think of ways that you can create similar moods in your daily life. Wouldn't life be wonderful if we always saw it as subtle, gentle, and eternal?
Slow down . . . and see more!
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I have bought as many books as I could find for my son who is eleven and loves reading about Jupiter, Bob and Pete's adventures. We look in every secondhand shop we can find and are slowly getting the entire series.
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There aren't really any plot twists or surprises in this story. What seems to me to be the biggest clue to the whole mystery flops out at you like a dead fish right in the middle of the book, and you have to wait until the end to see Jupiter finally seize upon it. Overall, though, it is still a pretty good story. It's hard to go wrong when you are writing about pirates, ghosts, and treasure. My childhood obsession with the secret headquarters at the Salvage Yard obviously continues because I certainly missed it in this book. The boys seemed to be somewhat out of their element here, and it shows. Of course, nothing can stop them from solving a mystery once they are on the case.
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