THE TRADITION OF THE MASKS: FROM MEXICO TO VENICE

Don Diego Vega, aka Zorro

The family has spend its last hours in Mexico DF. They have done a quick visit before going to the Mexico City International Airport to take a plane to the capital of Veneto. In Venice, the family has an intensive agenda: enjoy the Carnevale, visit Belén Collins, Asun Holmes and Eva Collins-Holmes and help The Grandma to find Corto Maltese, her eternal lover.

In the north of Mexico, in South California, in the Pueblo of Los Angeles during the era of Spanish California (1769–1821) a mysterious character became a hero for his population. He is typically portrayed as a dashing masked vigilante who defends the commoners and indigenous peoples of California against corrupt and tyrannical officials and other villains. His signature all-black costume includes a cape, a hat known as sombrero cordobés, and a mask that covers the upper part of his face.

More information: Carnevale di Venezia 2018

The Grandma sees Venice from the air

The tradition of wearing a mask is ancestral and modern at time. Today, after a flight of fourteen hours and an important jet lag, The Beans are going to arrive to Venice where they're going to enjoy the Carnevale during some days and where they're going to meet lots of people who are going to hide their real identities behind a mask, like Don Diego Vega, aka Zorro did in Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, some members of the family takes profit of the flight and read a New Grammar Book offered by Natalia Bean, a good book plenty of exercises and well-explained theory; other read a William Shakespeare's classic play, The Merchant of Venice, other watch an interesting film named Night Train to Venice with Hugh Grant as the main guest star and other read a Basic Manual for the Prevention of Occupational Hazards. The Grandma is reading some comics of Zorro from the webpage archive.org, where you can find millions of free documents to be downloaded.

Fourteen hours are a lot of hours and you need to do something to avoid sleeping all time and try to survive to the jet lag.

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Venice or Venessia in Venetian is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is situated across a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by bridges, of which there are 400. The islands are located in the shallow Venetian Lagoon, an enclosed bay that lies between the mouths of the Po and the Piave Rivers. Parts of Venice are renowned for the beauty of their settings, their architecture, and artwork. The lagoon and a part of the city are listed as a World Heritage Site.

Asun Homes is waiting The Beans in Venice

The name is derived from the ancient Veneti people who inhabited the region by the 10th century BCE. 

The city was historically the capital of the Republic of Venice. Venice has been known as the La Dominante, Serenissima, Queen of the Adriatic, City of Water, City of Masks, City of Bridges, The Floating City, and City of Canals.

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The Republic of Venice was a major financial and maritime power during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and a staging area for the Crusades and the Battle of Lepanto, as well as a very important center of commerce, especially silk, grain, and spice, and art in the 13th century up to the end of the 17th century. The city-state of Venice is considered to have been the first real international financial center which gradually emerged from the 9th century to its peak in the 14th century. This made Venice a wealthy city throughout most of its history.

More information: UNESCO

It is also known for its several important artistic movements, especially the Renaissance period. After the Napoleonic Wars and the Congress of Vienna, the Republic was annexed by the Austrian Empire, until it became part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1866, following a referendum held as a result of the Third Italian War of Independence. 

Venice has played an important role in the history of symphonic and operatic music, and it is the birthplace of Antonio Vivaldi. The city is facing some major challenges, however, including financial difficulties, erosion, pollution, subsidence, an excessive number of tourists in peak periods and problems caused by oversized cruise ships sailing close to the banks of the historical city.

Download Venice-Smart Tourism Guide

But I recall all of them nights down in Mexico,
one place I may never go in my life again.
Was I just off somewhere or just too high?

I only miss you every now and then,
like the soft breeze blowin' up from the Caribbean.

But I can't remember if we said goodbye.

Emmylou Harris