Second Day in Venice

September 21st, 2008

Sunday morning was the first full day of our Italy vacation. After breakfast, Melanie and I walked to Saint Mark's square, following a route similar to the one we had walked the night before (or maybe it was the same route, but it looked different in the daylight). With a detailed map, getting around Venice is not difficult. Without a map, a tourist is likely would get temporarily lost. The streets are often short, change names and veer off in various directions, and dead end at canals. But with a map, it is fun to walk through the city.

On our way to Saint Mark's, we passed a couple of people dressed in Renaissance costumes. They were handing out flyers for an opera performance that evening. My sister had mentioned that she would love to see an opera while in Italy, so we took one of the flyers with us to show her later.

At Saint Mark's square, we couldn't find Mom and Rose. That was strange; they rode the vaporetto to Saint Mark's square and should have been there well ahead of us. We finally found them down by the Bridge of Sighs, taking lots of pictures!

Melanie and I got in line for the Campanile, which is the big belltower. We rode the elevator to the top. It was windy and cool up there, the only time during our visit that I wasn't comfortable in my short sleeve shirts. While at the top, the eleven o'clock hour struck, and we were deafened by the ringing of the bells. I guess the bells are made to be heard all over Venice. They can certainly be heard from a few feet away!

We spent a good deal of time on top of the Campanile. You can see all across the small city, and you can see other islands that surround Venice. I took pictures of landmarks. I also tried to get a series of pictures in each direction so that could be assembled later into panoramas.

After descending back down to Saint Mark's square, we tried to get into St Mark's basilica. The Rick Steve's guide explains how you can avoid long lines by entering at the side entrance after checking your bags. Because it was Sunday, there was a mass in progress so we were restricted to walking along one side aisle before exiting, without getting a true view of the interior of the cathedral.

We found Rose and Mom again, after they came down from the Campanile. We had lunch in Saint Mark's square. Officially, you are not supposed to eat in the square, but there are food vendors all about, and there were many other people around eating lunch also. There are some large tables in the square, we used them for sitting on while resting; but their real purpose is during high water. Saint Mark's square often floods, so the tables are pushed together to form sidewalks when the water covers the square. Here is a link showing photos of Saint Mark's square during a recent flood. Click here for flood pictures

The four of us then took a self-guided tour of the Doge's Palace. There is quite a lot to see, having the Rick Steve's guide book for Venice is a useful reference to explain what you are looking at. Italian museums don't hand out maps or descriptions of their exhibits. I guess they want to you rent their audio headsets, but I was not impressed with the amount of description the audio guides provide, especially since they are relatively expensive. I only have pictures showing the exterior of the Doge's Palace because you are not supposed to take photographs when you are inside the palace. There are a lot of ornate rooms in the palace, you could spend an entire day looking at all the artwork. The palace was mostly used as a center of government, so there are meeting rooms and political chambers. The map room is especially nice, and there is a giant ballroom. We noticed that the groups led by a guide skipped the second floor of the palace and headed straight to the third floor, which is where the more impressive government chambers are located, but it is worth taking the time to wander through all the whole palace.

The prison is next to the Doge's Palace, on the far side of a canal. After sentencing, the prisoners were taken to their cells by crossing over the small bridge that spans the canal. There are a couple of small windows in the bridge; tradition says that the prisoners sighed as they caught their last glimpse of the beauty of Venice - thus the span is called The Bridge of Sighs.

The prison is a dismal place. You can take all the pictures you want inside of it. I can't imagine be locked into the lightless, damp, stone cells without going crazy. The medieval judicial system was merciless, even in an enlightened Renaissance city like Venice.

After our tour of the Doge's Palace and prison, Melanie and I split up from Mom and Rose. We opted to take a long route across the city to get back to the apartment. Along the way we stopped for a slice of pizza and some gelato. Gelato is the Italian version of ice cream. It is creamier than the American style ice cream, and is excellent! On our walk around the city, we stopped at the Venice Opera house and picked up some tickets so Rose and Mom could attend their performance that night. (€50 for two tickets)

Melanie and I walked over the famous Rialto Bridge. The bridge is quite wide, there are two rows of vendor booths along the span, which effectively splits the bridge into three parallel bridges separated by the shops. We walked across the Rialto bridge three times, once one each side, and once through the center span. I especially liked the view while standing on the south side of the bridge, that side provides a classic view of Venice palaces lining the Grand Canal.

We wandered through more squares and churches on our way back to the apartment. There are a lot of churches in Venice, often they are built right next to each other.

We meet Rose and Mom and the apartment for dinner, and gave them the opera tickets. Then Melanie and I went out for another walk that evening. We circled around the south eastern part of the city, and walked all along the southern edge of the city until we reached Santa Maria della Salute. Walking along the canal at night is fun, the city seems more mysterious (but not in a scary way.) A lot of the buildings have different colored lights, which lends a festive feeling to the atmosphere.