Giorno Due: Venezia

Giorno Due: Venice

We awoke to the beautiful sound of the San Marco Basilica bells calling the faithful, surprised that we slept so late. I usually am up with the light, around 6 or so, but I was up from 2-5 for some reason, and we slept in until 9! We missed the hotel breakfast by the time we headed out and caught a macchiato or two at the café a few doors down, as well as a croissant which was filled with apple. The weather was magnificent—nice and crisp with a light breeze and full sun and it was just wonderful. It’s a great location to people watch, and we got some great views! Our favorite was a woman who was wearing a flowy and loose brightly satin colored dress. Did I mention the light breeze? Well, I’ll confess that we got a few good laughs waiting to see if she was wearing anything underneath! She ended up walking down the road and turning as another gust of wind caught her dress, and we saw several feet of the dress flowing behind the corner she just turned down! Thankfully never did answer our question!

We walked towards the Piazza San Marco again amazed by the volume of pigeons in such a relatively small area. It was especially amazing that people would feed them by hand and encourage them to land on them! We headed towards the Correr Museo to get tickets that would allow us into the Basilica Museo and Palazzo Ducale, or Doge’s Palace. We toured the Correr Museo just because then headed over to the Palazzo Ducale. We noticed the campanile (bell tower) had a short line, so up we went to take in the views. They were magnificent! We were blessed with the bells ringing when we were up there, and were almost able to hear once we made it down! The views were really amazing and it was well worth going up. The elevator was a little bit of a disappointment, but I was a bit sore from the flight and the 8+ hours of walking yesterday so it was ok!

The Palazzo Ducale is a similar concept to the Tower of London. It housed the government from 1150-1450 as well as a prison. The prisoners arrived by water, so the last sight of freedom they had was the “Bridge of Sighs”. The palace was impressive and rather large. We were hungry so we grabbed a snack- Kim got foccachia which was actually a pizza crust with melted cheese, greens of some kind and fresh tomatoes. I got a prosciotto cotta y formaggio panini and a prosecco. We decided to hit the travel office to get tickets to Florence for tomorrow then headed out to see some churches. Yes, I am obsessed with them. We headed in the direction that we THOUGHT would get us to the Rialto bridge.. and walked, and walked, and walked. Lost again! Somehow we got so turned around we managed to walk a good half hour out of our way into a whole different neighbood in Venice called Castello. We saw the Armory/military building before we realized!

We finally made it to the Rialto bridge and crossed over. The neighborhood was very quaint and we enjoyed wandering. We found the San Polo Church, which was closed, and continued on until we saw the Frari Church. We walked around and toured the Scuolla San Rocco, Scuolla Church and Frari church. All were beautiful in different ways and styles. The Frari Church was brown brick on the outside and the most ornate and largest inside. The Scuolla had the most beautiful paintings, but it was very dark. It’s funny because our guide books as well as friends warned us about dress code in churches: no exposed knees or shoulders. So we both wore capris, had closed toes shoes in our bag, and Kim had a short sleeved shirt but I brought a cardigan with me. Never did we get questioned, though, of course if we hadn’t brought the accessories, I’m sure it would have happened!! We then headed towards the area that my friend Sandy told me about with an interesting chocolate and hazelnut ice cream, but I had left the paper in the room unfortunately and wasn’t sure I had the right place. And we had just eaten and weren’t very hungry, so we wandered around and came upon a beautiful park called Giardino Papadopoli near the grand canal. We exited and walked along the canal which was gorgeous. We found a store with some beautiful Murano glass, which Venice is known for. We both found things that we liked, but the place is near the hotel that we are staying at on our last night in town so we’ll head back most likely. Across the canal is the bus station and the train terminal, so we know where we’re going tomorrow to take the train to Florence.

We continued walking through the Santa Croche neighborhood, which was beautiful and quaint. We found a nice little campo and sat down for a drink and to rest our feet. We had done a ton of walking today, from 10 until around 10 tonight!! It was great for people watching and there were some really cute dogs walking around. Not many dogs, but those that I’ve seen all have nice collars and most don’t walk on leashes. There was a big fat cat sitting in the courtyard too, much to a dismayed dog’s view!

We continued walking, heading towards Rialto. We came upon a quaint little restaurant with a menu all in italian and thought “perfect!” What a wonderful meal! We had a mixed seafood dish, some salami and cheese, and two pasta dishes of tagiatelli with clams and a red sauce, and spaghetti and shrimp with olive oil. Both had fresh made pasta, and accompanied by a nice red wine, it was the perfect meal. We of course had to end it with gelato. Hey, we saw people eating it at breakfast time so we’re not going to feel badly. We do need the dairy anyways!!
We made our way back which seemed much more simple for some reason! Made our way over the Rialto bridge, and headed back to the hotel, wandering through the narrow alleyways and taking in the sights. We found our hotel with little issue. It’s so funny what a maze the narrow alleyways are here sometimes! Almost like someone picks up the city, and moves it on us!! And then it goes right back to where it was. Strange.

We plan to get up and out to see a few more things tomorrow before our train just before 3. I’ve really loved Venice, and I’m glad that I will have another partial day here to explore when we get back from Florence. It’s funny as the city isn’t so large, but it seems to take forever to get anywhere. Possibly because we keep getting lost!! The map is useful for orientation, however, not very good to determine exactly where you are. Roads that appear straight dead end, and you end up hopelessly lost! But we’ve figured out way for the most part! We’ll be staying in Cannaregio when we get back, not far from the train in the northern section of Venice. Looking forward to exploring a new part of the city that’s a bit off of the beaten tourist path. Also looking forward to hearing the beautiful bells in the morning when we are waking up! We have the window open and we’re taking in the wonderful breeze. It’s just gorgeous here!

Arrevederci!
Sam