I got a group of Girl's together and Friday about 1:30pm we headed from Vicenza to Venice. Amber and I took the Bus (1.20 euro, Amber was free) from our house to the train station where we met our friends. We then go tour tickets ( 5.05 euro for me and just over 2 euro for Amber) and boarded the train. About an hour fifteen minutes later we were in Venice! The Film festival is on Lido Island so we paid 6.50 Euro (Amber was free) for a water taxi ticket and boarded the water taxi to head to Lido Island. The water taxi station is right outside the train station on the Grand Canal so we didn't have to walk far.
As we reached the open part of the water towards the top of the canal there was a sail boat heading in which I though looked neat. I might have to try sailing on the Grand Canal one day.
Finally after two and a half hours of traveling, we arrived at Lido Island! There were signs for the Festival everywhere, even on the Water taxi exit ramp. One thing I noticed which was different than in Venice was that there were Cars on this Island! Unlike Venice where the water ways are the road, here, the roads are actually for cars not pedestrians. Luckily I realized it before I strolled into the street like a moron!
We all stopped to pose for pictures by the signs and the iconic Italian Lion statues which we later discovered would lead us about 30 minutes down the street to the festival. There was art everywhere too. It looked like maybe the art was being displayed temporarily and was changed out every few weeks or something. There was not really a theme to it, just random stuff including a very beautiful pear shaped pink flower (can't think of the name of it), a tall vibrantly colored sculpture made of hard but flexible rubber tubes, and a metal giant mask with tube lights that I guess lit up at night because there were solar panels on the sculpture.
As we followed the lions towards the festival we stopped for Gelato and the guy spoke very good English which was great but I like to practice ordering stuff in Italian.
It was a very casual and relaxing walk through the town. There were drug stores, restaurants with outside patio seating, shopping stores, and so forth just like we had seen in every other Italian town. When we reached the other side of the island we could see a beach down a hill behind the stores. There were a lot of umbrellas and little enclosed huts (sorry I didn't get a picture) on a 4-5 ft wide wooden boardwalk. The houses were on the houses, which were on the opposite side of the street, were taller and over all bigger and nicer that we had seen in other parts of Venice. There were noticeably less cars but many more bicycles. The beach goers parked their bikes right on the shaded areas between the road and the sidewalk or on the fence beside the entrance to the beach. I'm not sure if anyone can go to that beach or if it's reserved because there were only a few places to access the beach but I didn't notice if they were guarded or not. (I'll try it next time I'm there) There was a lot of sand before I could even see the water and lots of people laying out.
We came across a red carpet and started getting really excited that this might be the "ONE". I was kind of let down because this was nothing fancy. There was an official looking guy standing at the entrance and he didn't look friendly but as other people walked in he went in with them I ran across the street to have my picture taken on the carpet.
{For some reason my pictures decided not to cooperate and go where I want them in this blog so they will be all at the bottom, or on my facebook, sorry}
We looked around the area a little more and started realizing this probably was not the place so we started walking again. Not soon after that we saw fences with material over them so we could see in and more police and official personnel. The road we were on was barricaded so we had to turn right down a smaller street. After a small walk down this street we saw the entrance to the Movie Village guarded by police men. YAY, We had made it! We stopped for some more pictures and wondered if we needed tickets or some type of credentials to get in. Some Asian dude gave me a dirty look and other people just walked right in so we decided too as well.
There was a large what looked like a vendor tent or VIP type lounge to the right as soon as we entered and straight ahead of us was the casino. I've decided that Italians like to gamble. There are casinos in about every large or socially popular Italian town I've been too so far. It too was guarded and since we had no intentions of gambling, we stayed out.
The road turned us right and we saw another sign that said Movie Village and there was a ticket box office to the left. We stopped there to see what the prices were and what was showing. They had free programs for the show times and each ticket was about 13 to 19 Euro. A pass to all the movies was about 100 Euro. I'd say if I was staying in Venice for this entire event then I would be sure to get this deal. We didn't plan to see a film so we didn't buy tickets and headed towards the other Movie Village area that we had seen.
The road was right beside a small river with boats in it. On the left of the road there was a large building and a long hall way into the building that was also barricaded and guarded. There was no red carpet though :(
We stopped beside the entrance of the building and had a guard take a group photo beside the lion statue. He understood my English fine but I'm sure he was Italian. I wanted to ask him what this building was but somehow got distracted and forgot.
After that, we once again were on our journey in search of the red carpet and a movie star. We found a free news paper that had details and pictures of stars who had recent been there. Some pictures were of Ben Afleck sitting at a poker table and I'm assuming it was taken at the casino we passed as we entered the village. I may have to bring a little gambling money next time!
The path got a little more open and we didn't know exactly which direction to follow so I made the executive decision to turn left after a girl in our group said she saw tents up that way. The left turn was obviously the right choice because not 100 yards ahead was the red carpet! We came up from behind it and first saw that there was a fence around part of it but could still see through the holes just fine. There was paparazzi lined up all over the side of the carpet and we assumed something was going to happen soon. There were not a lot of people though so we were not sure. We walked around to the front of the carpet and took some pictures. The area was barricaded off so we didn't get on the carpet but we were in front of it with a great view of the entire thing.
While planning out next move a guy came out of the building and people started clapping! I thought it maybe was a famous movie star but no. It was however a director named Marco Bellocchio. He had just received the Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement Award and was walking the carpet on his way out. He had apparently done this before because he was just working the carpet. Everyone was shouting his name and he was just casually walking back and forth showing off his trophy like a champ.
The paparazzi was going crazy and there was a guy carrying a huge video camera and equipment that was gliding around taking video like it was nothing. That equipment looked so heavy but he was moving smoothly and natural. I was impressed more by that that by Marco!
When Marco left the paparazzi started packing up too so we followed suite and headed towards some other tents we saw set up to the right of the carpet. As we walked by a Large tv, it was playing scenes from when other actors and actresses had walked the carpet earlier in the festival. We saw Madonna and George Clooney on the screen. I am for SURE going to some when their movies are opening here next year. It looked like a fabulous opportunity.
We were all hungry from our day of traveling so on the way back to the boat we stopped for dinner. Lido Island prices are about the same as Venice. Not too bad but for sure tourist traps. The sun was setting as we finished dinner and waited for our water taxi. I took a few random pictures but besides that we just relaxed on the boat for the hour ride back to the train station. At the station we had just missed the 9pm train to Vicenza so we had to wait an hour for the next one. It was beautiful just sitting on the Grand Canal watching the people and the boats go by. The town was busier at this time than it was earlier in the day where we were here. We arrived back in Vicenza about 11:30 and I was so glad to be home but sad that we didn't see any movie stars. The experience of just being at the Film Festival was amazing and I will absolutely go again but this time to see a film and for a longer period of time.
