Exploring Venice

We all slept well and had breakfast in the hotel around 8:30. Our breakfast was very European. I had meats, omelette and Prosecco.

After breakfast we took the vaporetto (water bus) to the famous Rialto bridge with Lou and Barry. They were headed to Doppleganger to try to buy a suit for Barry. Bill and I crossed the bridge to check out the fruit and veggie markets. The area was not very busy today and some of the stands were closed. We wandered through the small streets for a while in the Rialto area and did some shopping, I decided to buy some socks to prevent blisters and found a couple of rings and a bracelet.

After a bit of trial and error, Bill found one of the churches we were looking for, but it was closed. I should pause and explain here, if you have never been Venice, it is not easy to navigate. The street signs are sometimes painted on the walls, there are lots of dead ends, some bridges are private, so you can not cross, the buildings are very compact and tall - no seeing up ahead for a landmark like the tower in St Mark’s Square to know if you are heading in the right direction.

We happened upon a free exhibit at Ospedaletto - Friendship International, and spent some time exploring. The exhibits were very modern and not really our style, so we did not dwell for long.

A short distance from there we viewed one of the most beautiful churches we have ever seen and we were shocked to find that it was empty. It was the Bascilica SS Giovanni e Paulo (St John and St Paul). The statues in the wall were amazing. With some prompting from Bill, I snuck a couple of photos on my phone, then promptly said a prayer asking for forgiveness.

Just before we left Bill wanted me to get more daring and take a photo of the main part of the church and the alter. Bill proceeded to provide directions for taking the perfect photo and when he felt I was not following them very well, I handed Bill my phone and told him that I would block the view from the ticket seller, and that he should take the photo himself, he replied with zero hesitation, “No!”. So clearly it was OK for me to get caught taking photos, but it was not OK for him. Bill must have thought I would get special dispensation since I was a Catholic.

After we escaped with photos in hand, we had some refreshments at the Snack Bar Colleoni - platti di salumi - charcuterie platter, with Aperol Spritzs before meeting back up with the others for our San Marco tour.

We gathered at a cafe across from Doge’s Palace. Norm and Marlene had really enjoyed their time on Murano seeing the glass blowing demonstration and buying a few souvenirs. Barry was able to buy a new shirt for Joe and Jaymie’s wedding, but did not have luck buying a suit.

Marlene, Norm, Lou, Barry, Bill and I had a great tour of the Doge Palace - run by rich and powerless old guys. Fillipo did a great job pointing out the highlights as we wandered through the accessible areas of the Palace that date back to the 16th century. We were even able to see a mural that survived one of the major fires and was recreated discovered under another painting. We toured the prison after crossing the Bridge of Sighs and then did a short tour of Cathedral. The golden mosaics murals on the ceiling are incredible, I really liked the one of the story of Eden. Every detail of the palace and the cathedral had meaning, even the mosaics on the floor which are mostly geometric shapes. The triangles signify the trinity, circle represent eternity, and square represent the XX. From one mural on a wall we learned that the rabbit represented humans (earthly and therefore evil) and that the eagle represented godliness (close to heaven and therefore good).

Throughout the entire area, and in fact all of Venice there are lots of symbols of St Mark - the lion, since his relics are stored at the cathedral, symbols of St Theodore (defeating the sea serpent or dragon) and a royal maiden. We saw many great examples of all of them on our tour with Fillipo.

After the tour, Lou and Barry headed out to do some more shopping. Norm, Marlene, Bill and I took the water taxi to Abbazia de San Giorgio Maggiori - a church on the island across from St Mark’s. It was modestly decorated and only took us a few minutes to explore.

Once we were back at the hotel, we all had a short rest, then we walked to dinner along the water toward the Accadamia area.

We had a great view of the sunset while dining at the Terrazzo del Nobill. It was really nice to be on the water with such great weather. We even had live piano music all evening to add to the ambiance. We all had plenty to eat, but could not refuse gelato for dessert at the Gelateria Nico next door. Dinner was good and the gelato was even better!

Everyone walked back to the hotel along the water and Bill and I circled back to have a night cap. We ended up polishing a bar off beside a cafe while people watching & playing a game of how many orders of gelato will each group buy?