Venice—La Dominante, Italy(意大利威尼斯·王者之城)-兒歌薈萃-萬維博客-萬維讀者網（電腦版）

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		Venice—La Dominante, Italy(意大利威尼斯·王者之城)	2020-07-10 07:28:02

2018-07-09

【Aiden in English】

After one harsh day of running on fumes, we rested up and didn't fall asleep instantly when hopping on the water bus. It took me two minutes.

Today's adventure would take us to a basilica, then a basilica. The difference being one was a courthouse, or what a basilica meant in ancient Roman architecture hundred years ago. So a courthouse came first. To be honest, it was the courthouse, senate chamber, Council of Ten, compass room, apartments, and prisons all wrapped into one, but is most commonly referred to as Doge's palace. It housed many leaders over the centuries, resulting in a ridiculously expensive, and beautiful interior. The most accurate comparison would be to the German Palace of Augustusburg. Decent square apartment rooms and huge rectangular halls, filled with gold and gems. Paintings covering every ceiling and wall-like drapes, wasteful amounts of treasures, and I'm pretty sure the Republic of Venice built the palace for itself. It also held some pretty important stuff in its history, like the meeting for the Tripartite Pact. I kind of geeked out when I heard that, especially since WWII was the best thing we learned in history all year of my 9^th grade. The place of the negotiation was also the chamber of the Great Council, with a stage for the senate and its larger hall for viewers and non-senate folk. Behind the stage was the largest oil canvas painting of Il Paradiso by Tintoretto on display, a massive crowd of people reaching out to Jesus. What's new.

The building wasn't just a giant government-run presidential palace. It also was linked to the prison, securing some of the most dangerous political criminals in the country. It is said that once a man was convicted, he walked across the bridge linking the two buildings, resulting in Lord Byron naming it "The Bridge of Sighs". It's a small covered bridge with diamond-cut Windows, barely tall enough for me to stand straight up. And yet it attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every day and always causes a pile-up at the entrance of the waterway for pictures. Getting sent to prison seemed essentially like a death sentence, as conditions were terrible. People slept and sat on rock floors and ate bread all day. I'm not sure if the bread was the freshest either. I guess that's what the bridge of sighs implies: your life's kind of over.

Eventually, we made our way through the Doge’s Palace, ending at the entrance of the Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark, conveniently. This was more of a traditional basilica specifically for the Doge back in the 9^th century, with many altars and artifacts, such as a gold board filled with gems that stunningly weren't stolen ages ago. With the traditional dome-shaped Italo-Byzantine and Gothic designs, the basilica had a high ceiling (what a surprise), many paintings (what a surprise), a beautiful cross (what a surprise), and a gift shop (what a surprise). It also had a lot of Latin scribbled everywhere, which entertained me while climbing stairs or roaming the museum. This basilica area also offered a bell tower elevator ride to the top, which gets you the best view of the city. While it did cost a bit, the moment was breathtaking. All the buildings in Venice were short and gable-roofed, resulting in a horizon filled with terra-cotta red tops and a visible coastline all around. I got some good pictures too.

This was day two of Mediterranean Romance in a nutshell. We also went on a Grand Canal tour in the afternoon, but I think we'll come back to touring in a gondola another day. Tomorrow is going to be a highlight because we are going to Verona. Oh, the ninth-grade English!

【紅霞譯文】

在馬不停蹄奔波一整天之後，我們總算消停下來，待坐上水路公交船沒過兩分鐘便昏睡了過去。

今天我們先遊覽廊柱宮殿再參觀大教堂，根本區別在於 “王者之廳” ，至少幾百年前古羅馬建築格局大致如此，公堂占居首要位置，說白了，廊柱宮殿是集法院、議會廳、十人決策評委廳、判決室、下榻和監獄等於一體，最為常見的要算威尼斯總督府。過去幾個世紀很多帝王將相先後到這裡駐足留宿，促使總督宮內部裝潢日趨富麗堂皇，與德國奧古斯特堡相比有過之而無不及，不論寬敞別致的規正寓所還是豪華氣派的長方形廳堂，黃金寶石鋪天蓋地，天花板及牆壁四周掛滿了繪畫，彰顯窮奢極侈貴族風氣，我相信威尼斯共和國政府實則為自己打造王宮。總督府來頭不小，像轟動全球的德意日三國同盟條約就是在這裡達成共識的，我禁不住竊喜，畢竟高一歷史課上最費口舌的內容非二戰莫屬，況且談判地點又設在大議會議事廳，議員坐在台上，而觀察員和非議員則呆在大廳中，主席台後面是丁托列托創作的世界上最大的布面油畫《天堂》，眾人湧向耶穌，好不新穎！

該建築並非只是達官貴族落腳的豪華宮殿，另外還附設一座監獄，裡面關押過所謂禍國殃民的政治犯，據說一旦有人被定罪，他得步行穿過連接兩棟大樓被拜倫勳爵命名的“嘆息橋”，這個帶有鑽石花紋窗戶的蓋橋橋身不高，我甚至沒法直腰走路，然而每天卻吸引了成千上萬的遊客擠在水道口邊攝影留念。監獄條件極差，因此鋃鐺入獄基本等於宣判死刑，犯人睡在石板地上整天靠麵包充飢，恐怕也不會是剛出爐的玩藝，我猜這正是嘆息橋寓意所在：人生來日無多。

最終我們走出總督府，恰好停在聖馬可大教堂門前，這是九世紀專門為總督營造的正宗聖殿，裡面建有大小祭壇並充斥着歷代文物，譬如寶石鑲嵌的金壁，邪門的是居然從未遭遇過打劫，採用傳統的拱頂意大利—拜占庭及哥特式設計，天花板特高（好不搶眼）、繪畫極多（好不羨慕）、十字架很美（好不意外）包括禮品店（好不驚喜）！教堂里拉丁文字隨處可見，讓我在爬樓梯或漫遊博物館時情趣大增；其鐘樓提供電梯服務，可以載客直達頂樓觀賞全城絕佳景色，雖說收點費用，但登高望遠那一瞬間卻令人無比震撼。威尼斯民居樓層低矮頂篷呈人字形，赤陶紅瓦房跳躍在清澈見底的海岸線上，我同時抓拍了不少美照。

簡而言之，現在正值地中海浪漫之旅第二天，下午一家老少又趕去大運河觀光，但我清楚過兩天還打算乘坐威尼斯鳳尾船兜風，而重頭戲壓到明天，因為我們要去維羅納，這可是高一英語涉及的內容喲！

Today in History(歷史上的今天):

2018: Venice—La Serenissima, Italy(意大利威尼斯—寧靜之城)

2018: Venice—Piazza San Marco, Italy(意大利威尼斯—聖馬可廣場)

2018: Venice the City of Bridges, Italy(意大利威尼斯—橋城)

2018: Venice the City of Canals, Italy(意大利威尼斯—運河之都)

2018: Venice the Floating City, Italy(意大利威尼斯—浮城)

2017: Mozart & Strauss Concert, Austria(奧地利莫扎特與斯特勞斯音樂會)

2017: Belvedere the Austrian Gallery, AUT(奧地利美景宮—國家美術館)

2017: Vienna the City of Music, Austria(奧地利維也納—音樂之城)

2017: Vienna the Capital of Dreams, Austria(奧地利維也納—夢之都)

2016: Cobh the Teardrop of Ireland(愛爾蘭的眼淚—科夫)