Hit the Ground Running

While Emilee and I were feeling a bit weary from our train adventure from the night before and that morning, we were determined to use every minute we had in Venice. First order of business: Find our hotel. After much tracing and retracing of steps, consulting of maps, going up and down stairs and bridges, we finally located Hotel Mercurio. From the outside, it didn't look like much, but it turned out to be a great little hotel with a satisfactory breakfast spread (GREAT cappucinos!), and a WONDERFUL location, five minutes from Plaza San Marco! Monica, at the hotel desk, saw the Rick Steve's book in my hand and made some jokes about it, leaving me wondering if she liked or disliked Rick Steve's. She said that she worked with him, but weren't sure whether that meant in the past, and therefore was on the "outs" with him, or in the present, which meant she was on the "ins" with him. (I didn't recall seeing her hotel listed in his book, so I was thinking it was probably the first - "on the outs".) Anyway, it didn't matter and we got ourselves settled in our room and then took to exploring Venice.

First on our agenda: Lunch. Not wanting to stop to eat (and spend many euros), Emilee and I picked up a piece of the much-heralded pizza. I was not disappointed. Next, we headed right to the Duomo - the Basilica de San Marco. While not a disciple of Rick Steve's, I do think his Europe guides have a lot of very valuable information in them, the first being that in order to avoid the very long (indeed!) lines at the Duomo, go and check your backpack for free at the Ateneo San Basso on Calle San Basso, a tiny little street to the left of the Basilica. They will give you your "check" for your bag which you show to the basilica's gatekeeper, and you skip the whole line. That's exactly what we did and saved us hours in line. The Basilica has 4,750 square yards of Byzantine mosaics. Emilee told me to notice the floor which had "waves" in it. It truly did. This has been attributed to the sinking of Venice. Apparently the best foundation pilings were made around the perimeter, so in between, some of the floor has sunk. Being that we only had an hour in the Basilica (the one stipulation of the pass from the bag check), Emilee and I did not spend much time inside the Basilica, rather, we headed to the dome to see the view from the top. (I later regretted not spending more time inside and viewing the high altar where, beneath the altar lies the body of St. Mark.) Note: I have no photos of the interior of the Duomo because photography was not allowed. It degrades the interior with emissions from the flash.

After the climb to the top, and combined with the heat in Venice, Emilee and I decided to spend the rest of our afternoon/evening exploring Venice by foot. And that's what we did. We had a wonderful time just soaking in the sights, perusing the artwork (and fakes) for sale along the Canal, and for me, pinching myself so I could believe that I was truly in Venice.

Tuesday

Buon Giorno day 2! Following a great night's sleep, Emilee and I headed to breakfast, then to see the Accademia and the Doge's (dohzh) Palace. However, we only got as far as purchasing our San Marco Museum Plus Pass at the Correr Museum off of Plaza San Marco (another tip of Rick Steves' - buy it there and save yourself the long line at the Doge's Palace), when Emilee started feeling sick. I think it was the heat that got to her, so we went back to the hotel. I told her she should just rest and I would come back at lunch to see how she was feeling.

I visited the Correr Museum which really was quite interesting, though lesser-known and visited. It gives an overview of Venetian history and art, as well as great views of San Marco Plaza from the windows.



Original globe in the Correr Museum











View from the top:After viewing Correr Museum, I went to the Doge'sPalace, a.k.a. Palazzo Ducale. At first I wasn't going to visit it because I wasn't sure I felt "settled" enough to go through the museum. I was itching to walk around Venice. But I am very glad I visited the Palace. The Palazzo Ducale was the seat of the Venetian government and home of its ruling duke, or doge. It was the most powerful half-acre in Europe for 400 years. It has been nicknamed "The Wedding Cake", "The Table Cloth" and "The Pink House", built in a style called Venetian Gothic (Italian Gothic with Islamic flair). I visited the living quarters, the Senate Hall, the Armory, Hall of the Grand Council, then crossed over the Bridge of Sighs to the prisons. The Bridge of Sighs was so named, supposedly, because as the prisoners passed over from the Hall of the Grand Council to the Prison, they gave a big sigh. The Bridge of Sighs is one of the famous bridges in Venice, but today it is almost hidden because of huge blue murals that have been put up. I found out that those murals were put up in 2007 and they are advertisements for the company that is paying to repair or restore parts of the bridge and the palace. Supposedly a piece of marble fell from the ceiling and hit a German tourist in the head. The city itself does not have the money to maintain these buildings, so outside companies do....in exchange for advertisement.

After Lunch
I returned to Hotel Mercurio and woke up Emilee to see if she was ready to go out and explore Venice some more. She was feeling a bit better and said she was. We decided to head to Cannaregio, one of the six districts of Venice, where there were supposedly "cheaper" shops. The following is a great description of Venice from Rick Steves' guidebook:

"The island city of Venice is shaped like a fish. Its major
thoroughfares are canals. The Grand Canal winds through the middle of the
fish, starting at the mouth where all the people and food enter, passing under
the Rialto Bridge, and ending at St. Mark's Square (Piazza San Marco).
.......Venice is a car-less kaleidoscope of people, bridges, and odor-less
canals. The city has no major streets, and addresses are hopelessly
confusing. There are six districts: San Marco (most touristy),
Castello (behind San Marco), Cannaregio (from the train station to the Rialto),
San Polo (other side of the Rialto), Santa Croce (the "eye" of the fish, east of
the train station), and Dorsoduro (the belly of the fish and southernmost
district of the city......To find your way, navigate by landmarks, not
streets. Many street corners have a sign pointing you to (per) the nearest
major landmark, such as San Marco, Accademia, Rialto, and Ferrovia (train
station). "

In Cannaregio, Emilee and I did find some "cheaper" shops, but not any you would call "inexpensive". However, we weren't any good at haggling over prices, which is apparently what you are supposed to do. So, for that, we paid more than what we should've. I didn't buy any big souvenirs, but Emilee invested in a beautiful painting. Not knowing that much about oil painting, I am not really sure I could be a judge of whether an artist was really good or not, so when a lady walked up to the artist Emilee was in the process of dealing with and said to her friend, "He really is quite good!", I knew Emilee was judging well. Also, this man was not just going to sell it and be done with it. No, he wanted to be sure that his painting was going into good hands. He wanted to be sure Emilee would really appreciate his work and enjoy it. He wanted to know where Emilee lived and where his painting was going to end up. The discourse was very interesting and charming. It ending with Emilee's well-wrapped package under her arm and a kiss-kiss to each of her cheeks, kiss-kiss to each of "Mama's", and a "Ciao"!

After some shopping, we had worked up an appetite. Emilee and I really wanted to eat along the Canal, but phew!, we didn't want to pay the steep prices. Apparently there are so many people that feel the same way, the restaurants all offer a "Touristico" menu. So, we picked a little cafe along the Grand Canal near our Vaparetto stop - Vallaresso. The menu consisted of a first course, second course, and another course that was brought at the same time as the second. ??? Both of us started with the spaghetti, but I had the seafood spaghetti. Emilee had Bolognese. Then we both had the fried calamari, and in spite of it being the "Touristico" menu, it was better than any fried calamari I've ever had at a restaurant in the United States. The chunks of squid were larger than I've ever had, therefore, we were able to actually taste the squid and not just the breading! The "third course" was a salad. Neither of us ordered dessert, as we were saving room for an Italian "eis" at a little Eis Cafe on the way home.

We walked around some more along the Canal and then decided to call it a night. Tomorrow held more wonders in store!