Day Eight- Venice redub

Today's post is the last one before I get back to where I started doing this during the trip. I have been posting these (some with a few different photos) on my blog page, in case you need to refill, or direct someone who isn't on facebook to them. I'll continue to repost the old ones there so that they are in sequential order until I have the whole trip up. Then god only knows what I'll do with myself (like maybe get some work done?!) 

I guess living in Venice your whole life will do this to you

Becoming very apparent that two days is nowhere near enough time to take in Venice; a week seems more like a necessary minimum. We don't have a week, so we'll just try to absorb as much as possible and vow to return for a longer visit. Got up and had a nice breakfast with our own espresso maker and some wheat free bread I bought at a German bakery across the street from our pad. Little did I know it would be the last time I saw that in Italy, or I would have packed a bag full of it for later. It was good! 

Nice window on the way to the piazza. Starting to know my way around....not!

After hanging our freshly laundered clothes on the line in the courtyard, we headed back to the Piazza, the path already becoming clearer in my head as I began to recognize landmarks. Stopped again to lick the windows of the shoe store and wonder why I wasn't born in that category of human- I'm certainly one who would appreciate $1,000 shoes! The handmade suits also have been calling to me through the store windows. "Steve, come and wear me!" 

Everything at the Palazzo Ducale is X-Large

But I digress. Our first destination on this fine and sultry day was the Palazzo Ducale (or Doge's Palace,) a large agglomeration of building that goes back to the 9th century, though most of it was built around the 15th and 16th centuries, while maintaining a Gothic style that originated in the 14th century. Ducal does indeed describe this place (or perhaps this place describes ducal) with extra large rooms that are somewhat dark and foreboding, but also regal in their gold and ornamented ceilings and walls. They have good descriptions in each room of the function; here is where one entered to be seen by the court, here is where the accused sat before sentencing, etc. Definitely put the fear of god in you! Then you descend to the prison via the so-called "Bridge of Sighs". Ugh! I think I decided on this trip that I really don't enjoy visiting dungeons- it is much too sad to imagine those who spent time in these cold dark places.

 After recovering from that area you enter the Chamber of the Great Council, a gigantic room made to seat up to 2,000 of the local nobility. It faces the lagoon with large open windows to keep it moderate, but it is easy to imagine the good nobles snoozing in their chairs as some discussion of trivia droned on from the raised platform where the Doges would hold forth, backed up by Tintoretto's "Paradiso", the longest oil painting in the world. All around the room, twinned portraits of the Doges glare down from history, including poor Marin Faliero, who in 1355 attempted a coup, and was punished by becoming an "unperson", his name wiped off the record books and his portrait nothing but a black cloth. Oh yeah, he was also beheaded.

Council of the Great Council at the Doge's Palace

After the Palazzo we decided to go for the trifecta, entering into the Basilica di San Marco, which is just next door. Originally the Doges' church, this crazy quilt Byzantine style building has bits of materials from all over, a fitting tribute to Venice's position as gateway to the Eastern provinces and trade center. Colored marbles adorn the entry, and the interior is bathed in golden light from the multiple mosaics that cover the vaults. Some of the mosaics go back to before the church was built, while others were designed by famous painters such as Veronese, Tintoretto, and Titian. The overall effect is dazzling- like being inside a kind of jewel box. There are all kinds of exotic marbles in columns and book matched panels, many of them brought from foreign lands or prized off of antique sites. 

Columns in the Basilica of San Marco were brought from all over .

We then revisited the cafe in the Museo Correr (ok- it was partly due to my desire to take more photos of it- I had the camera set wrong when I was there the day before.) Then we stayed in the arcades and found the Caffe Florian, where I could have spent three times as much for a coffee, but been surrounded by a painted mirror space that is unequaled anywhere. They politely ignored me as I snapped away, but I kind of felt like we should have popped for it, even though it would have been ridiculously expensive! 

Mural in Caffe Florian, a Venetian institution.

We then decided it was nap time and headed back to our little cabana, where the laundry was all dry and toasty. We emerged again at dusk for one more look at the Piazza and a gelato, vowing that we will come back to explore more of it another time. We didn't even get to see the Biennale, which is mostly down in the southern part of town, although what parts we did see in installations around town were less than impressive, if not downright blocking the view! Don't get me wrong, I am not categorically against contemporary art, it's just that I look for art that is a balance of thought and craft, and most of what I see today has (way) too much of the former and not enough of the latter. 

I guess this wraps up my monologue on the trip we took this summer- hope I'll be able to do it again soon!