First thing, we went out to St. Mark's square and did the Rick Steve's audio guide. Very cool, we learned a lot. For instance, each of the 3 sides of the square were built in a different century and therefore a different style. Napolean did the middle one linking the two.
Um, so St. Mark's is pigeon city. Which is disgusting. Scott and I have never had any tolerance for pigeons...they're like flying rats. We were continually surprised and amazed at the amount of folks that not only seemed to think feeding them and having the pigeons *on them* was ok, but also to subject their children to this. BARF!
So, to enter Doge's Palace, which we were really excited about, they make you buy a dual ticket for that and the Correr Museum. Well, part of me wishes we could have totally just not done the museum, we were just not in the mood. There were a few nice sculptures in the beginning and a very good cup of cappuccino at the end, but the whole middle was Bor-Ring. That's Jamie Steve's rec - skip it.
We also went into St. Mark's Basillica. It's a very different church bc it is really eclectic in its influences. It has Islamic & Middle Eastern elements, Turkis & Byzantine elements and Greek stuff to it. It's very different. But oh-so-lovely. :) Here's a night-vish shot.
Inside was great - all different types of marble in and outside from all of the places the Venetian empire had conquered. The artwork on the ceiling was all mosaic and very ornate and gold encrusted. There was a bejeweled altarpiece that had an insane amount of big rubies and sapphires, etc and...GOLD obvs. Very cool! They like to show off, those Venetians.
We really enjoyed St Mark's Square. There were a lot of overpriced cafes on the perimeter that had orchestras playing and stuff, very romantic and charming.
Lunch was yummy! We followed a suggestion from Rick, and again, he delivers! Scott and I love some tomato & mozzarella sandwiches!
In the afternoon we walked around a lot. We had much more success navigating the city by just kind of lazily floating along the roads and following the random signs sporadically placed throughout saying "San Marco -->" or "Rialto <--". We found the Friari Church pretty easily, given how difficult it was the night before. Friari Church was pretty cool too! Then the real miracle happened...the SUN came out! For like 20 min! We managed to get up on the Rialto bridge during it too, which is one of the few bridges that runs across the Grand Canal. It was so pretty...
We then hit the Doge's Palace, which was traditionally where the Doge or Mayor of Venice lived. It was ornate and old, filled w/ riches and paintings. :)
And it connects to the prison and has the Bridge of Sighs in btwn.
We were getting tired, but this day had the new challenge for us of no option of going back to our room to rejuvinate and rest. We HAD to stay out on the town. So, we found a little trattoria and got a bottle of cabernet and got to work. After a nice dinner and another bottle of wine, we were ready to head to the train station.
We had originally said we'd walk again, but for some reason we weren't quite feeling like it and thought - let's do the vaporettos! :) We're so glad we did - Venice is a totally different city from the water and by being cheapies, we totally missed it! And the best part is bc the ticket machine was broken when we went to buy our tickets, it was a free ride. We met a Canadian grad student who studied in Venice for a semester and his mom, and had some lively conversation on the way to the train station too. Very enjoyable!
Overall, Venice was lovely. It's really hard to compare it to anything because it's totally its own. No bikes, mopeds or cars...just walking. The churches and big buildings were built on millions (yes millions) of trees made into pilings...and the fact that the city is still here at all is kind of a miracle. Exploring it was so much fun, like looking at a decaying iconic city up close.
Oh, and I know you're wondering, here's where we slept - on the train to Roma overnight!
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