VENICE ADVENTURE CONTINUES

What a lovely way to start the day - have someone else fix breakfast!  Sharon, I have a suggestion...

We did not get an early start to our day and we had to meet Luisella at 1:00 so decided to stay close to the hotel rather than walk around and probably get lost although that is exactly what you are to do in Venice.  We just thought we'd do it later.  

We decided to head over to St. Marks square and walk around - window shopping is always good.

We can always window shop so instead we elected to  tour the Doge's palace since we had a few hours before meeeting Luisella.  

The Grand Staircase  leading to the private quarters.  Inside, the walls are made of stucco and the ceilings feature ornate works of art.  The doge's apartment was on the second floor while the chancellery offices were located on the first.  On the thiird floor was the Sala del Collegio, where the doge met with foreign visitors and ambassadors.    In this room you can find portraits of all the doges, except one, who disgraced himself by attempting a coup d'etat. 

(There were signs around that cameras were not permitted and yet peopple were snapping away.  We decided to be very cautious about our use of the camera - our rule: kind of obey the signs but follow the example of fellow tourists.  These are rather random pictures.  First two taken in the apartment the third one in the amory.  

This was taken in the Grand Council chamber.  This was where the ruling eilte of Venice met, usually about 1000 individuals total.  In this room you can view Tintoretto''s 'Paradise" , an amazing full-wall work completed in 1577.  You can also view the pictures of the Doge's just below the ceiling.  In the far left corner of the wall behind me is the black space where the traitor''s  picture is no longer.  We didn't think taking too many pictures in this room was a good idea.  

Some beautiful views from the windows of the palace.  

In the basement were several prison cells, which housed convicts awaiting trail.  When the new prison was built on the other side of the Rio di Palazzo the facility was no longer used.  The new prison was connected to the palace via the now famous Bridge of Sighs.  I took the above picture looking through the window of the bridge.

This is a picture of the Bridge of Sighs.

We went to the prison and we must have felt very at home there because I have lots of pictures taken from there.  Maybe that's also because there were no guards around.  Not a lot of art work there either. 

mmmmmmm very comfy accomodations!

Im very sorry I took those pictures. I didn't see the signs.  

I talked to my lawyer, of course she was in jail also but she managed to get us out!

 Free at last!

AH  Fresh air.  Best go for lunch and celebrate.

  A famous hangout of Henry James the author.

If it was good enough for him we decided we could grab a bite to eat here as well.  It is right in St. Mark's square.  

  After lunch is was time to join Luisella at the hotel.  

Quite the place. 

Lusiella met with us and marched us right over to St. Mark's square.  Since we had already gone through the Doge's palace she started our tour in St. Mark's Basilica.  It is a cathedral today but was the Doge's chapel until in 1807 when it became the seat of the Archbishop of Venice.

The cathedral is very dark and no pictures are allowed,  I can tell you I have probably never see  so much  gold in one place unless perhaps in the palaces in St. Petersburg.  There is 91000 square feet of gold in the Basilica.  

The church is named for the Gospel writer St. Mark who had been in Venice and had a vision that he would be buried there.  Unfortunatelly he went to Egypt and started the Coptic religion there and died before getting back to Venice.  So, to fulfill his prophecy some Venetian merchants stole the bones of Saint Mark from their resting place in Alexandria, Egypt.  It is said they hid them in a barrel under layers of pork to get them past the muslim guards.  This adventure is depicted in the 3rd century mosaic above the door in the front entrance of the Basilica.  It shows the inspector holding his nose as he signals the merchants to go on.  ( I honesty didn't know you couldn't take pictures when I snaped this. I love ignorance!)

Prior to the building of the cathedral, most of the buildings in Venice were wood shacks.  Why would anyone build a city in a place where the land was muddy, surrounded by water which flooded, the drinking water was brackish, and the mosquito's were terrible?  Great natural defenses.  When the Doge Domenio Contarini who was very rich decided to build a spectacular building for Mark's bones he went to Constantinople to find an architect.  Venetians could build fabulous boats but buildings - no.  They laughed at him until he "showed them the money" .  

Luisella had wonderful storied to tell about the history of the city.  Again it was a three hour tour that was fun, educational, and geered to our interests.  

Starting our tour.

We went to the back of the altar to view the famous Pala d'Oro altarpiece.  It is a panal of gold embedded with gems.  It was commissioned from Byzantine goldsmiths in 976 and futher embellished over the centuries.  Napoleon stole some of the precious stones in 1797 but there are stilll plenty left  gleaming behind protective glass.  The piece is on a swivel and at Christmas time they turn the piece around and it becomes the altarpiece.  It is magnificent.  

The cathedral is absolutely spectacular.  We were told that on Friday at 11:00 they turn the lights on and so we did go back but if the lights were on it was still pretty dark.  

When we left the Cathedral we walked to see the famous opera house - La Fenice ( the Phoenix) .  The opera is an important tradition of the Venetians and in 1996 the Opera house burned down.  It reopened in 2003.  The opera house is almost exacty as it would have been seen by the prosperous burghers in the early 19th century.  

While we strolled along the streets of Venice we were told about the casino's in Venice and of course the wearing of the masks and carnival.  So much fasinating history and tradition.  

I just thought this looked like a great place to have coffee or wine.

This is the entrance to the Opera House from the water.  

 A wonderful pastry shop!

 A good restaurant.  We were moving along so I couldn't take notes and when I could I snapped a picture so I would remember a name of a place.. Let me tell you, it's not easy keeping up with young people.

We were next in a square where this statue of the "booker shiter" is located.  

Aparently the statue was built and it looked off balance so they added the books.  Since then the name ...!

This is the name of the square should you want to go see the statue for yourself.

 And novilty shops are always nice to know about.

Gardens, trees, and plants, of any kind are rare in Venice.  This is taken in one of the rare gardens.

 A sculpture of bicycles!

You can see the Peggy Guggenheim home, now a museum of modern art. It's the one with the umbrellas and garden on the roof.

If you look closely this home has fresco's on the front.

This is where they build many of the gondolas.

 Gondola's are custom made and cost between 39 and 60 thousand Euo's.  There are 430 Gondoliers in Venice.  

Here we are following Luisella into the gondola makers workshop. Venice is a small town so she knew everybody.  Everywhere we went people were waving and talking to her.  She was such a dear.  

After visitng the gondola builders workshop we went to the church where there is an altar specifically built for the gondoliers.

Notice the picture of the gondola which is carved into the pedestal on the right of the altar.  

This is on the left and shows the older style gondola.

 Our next stop was at one of the mask makers.

This particular mask was worn by maidens.  Very plain.

A maiden with her chaperone.  Rather unattractive if you ask me.

The threshold of the mask maker's shop door.

Saw this in a shop and loved it but we never did get back there.  Darn!

Another restaurant recommended by Luisella.

From here we waked to the red light district.  They are everywhere!

The little bridge where the girls would stand and display their breasts.  

The Bridge of the "Tette".

Once the home of the wealthest man in Venice and the exterior was covered in gold.  Luisella went on her way and we decided to go to a little bacaro for a glass of wine and a little food.  We had dinner reservations at 9:30 at Osteria alle Testierr -- the restaurant where George Clooney had his last meal as a single man.  If it's good enough for George, it's good enough for me.  We were joining Mary and Jerry again.  

 At the end of the evening Luca the owner came over and sat down with us.  He's going to be going to the US, both washington, DC and New York.  Michele and Mary insited he  get in touch with them.  Mary volunteered to cook an Indian meal for him.  I hate to think I can't be there.

Wonder what this conversation is about.

The night was young

 so we decided we really shoud have a glass of wine in our hotel room so 

we waked home through St. Mark's square and now you all know - that was Jerry holding my hand.  

 Mary and Michele were just talking and laughing so we just joined hands and headed to the Bauer.  

Had a little wine.

and called it a night at ... don't get caught up in the picture of the handsome guy and the two beautiful girls - look at the hour.

Don't let it be said I can't keep up with those kids. Of course I'm still trying to catch up on my sleep but it was worth it.  What a fun night.  Mary and Jerry were heading to Milan the next day so we had to enjoy our last night together.  I do think that our paths will cross again.  Particularly Michele, Mary and Jerry.  Will be interesting to see if that happens.  It just isn't that often you meet people you really click with  as you travel but we really did.  They are just lots of fun!

Tomorrow Sharon and I are heading to Aix for the day.  Probably won't get to my blog.

I should mention that I had my first hair catastrophe in Europe yesterday.  I had my hair cut and colored and I tried to explain that I wanted the base color just to be about the same as my own hair and then hi lights  applied.  Well, I ended up as a blonde.  I really didn't like it and could see it really looking awful as it started to grow out, so today I went to the salon that Sharon had gone to and they have someone who speaks English.  I explained my dilemna and they were able to fit me in right away and I now have what I consider to be a better color for me.  I have now spent about 5 hours in beauty salons in the last two days and I won't even tell you how much I've spent.  Oh well - looking like me again.  Good, bad or indifferent - it's familiar.