The Gang's All Here in Venice!

The five of us, together at last, had a great time exploring Venice.

 

We met Beverley and Dorothy without any problems, and together Ian and I brought them on the Alilaguna to Venice.  While Ian took them to the apartment, I jumped on the return boat to the airport, and met Alanna.  Her trip to Venice was accomplished in the dark, but she was very enthusiastic as she passed the Bridge of Sighs and the statue of the drunken Noah on the corner of the Doge's Palace, even though there were hardly any people about.  Somehow we managed to eat all of the food I had brought in for breakfast!

This morning we had croissants from a little place just below us, then headed out to San Marco.  We climbed immediately up to the balcony level and saw the amazing horses that were taken from Constantinople,  and had a great up-close look at the mosaics.  We got a taste of the splendour of the Doge's residence in the painted ceilings of the Doge's chamber.

We particularly enjoyed the view of San Marco Square from the balcony.

We were looking for a place to sit down and rest, and therefore made the tourist mistake of trying to eat too close to San Marco, and of ordering fish that is priced by the kilo, so paid 50 Euros for a single fish, and over 180 Euros for an unspectacular lunch, with no wine, and a single cup of coffee.  Vowing never to make the mistake again, we headed off to redeem our museum passes, to only to discover that Ian and I had forgotten our copy of the ticket.  We got the museum passes for Alanna, Beverley, and Dorothy.  Then Beverley and Dorothy went back to the apartment to rest, while Alanna, Ian and I went to look for an Internet place.

We followed several bad leads, and walked all the way through Camporeggio to Ferrovia, where we bought more groceries, and finally found a place that would print the ticket.  Our mission accomplished, we went to our favourite gelato stand, where I had melone and coconut; Alanna had coconut and pistachio (she says that together they were amazing!) and Ian had mint chocolate chip, which was fine.

Alanna bought her vaporetto ticket, and we headed down the Grand Canal, Alanna snapping pictures all along the way.  We have just been enjoying her images, and I am not sure she missed a single palazzo all along the 45 minute canal ride. She is so enthusiastic about everything -- and even enjoyed wandering the mazes of streets and alleys in search of an Internet site.

We got our own museum passes, then all five of us took the short vaporetto ride to San Giorgio across the lagoon.  It is a beautiful Baroque Church, remarkable both for the paintings, some by Tintoretto and Bassano, its art work, and of course, the view from the campanella.  

Next we took the No. 2 Vaporetto around the working areas of Venice, and stopped at the Ferrovia stop to visit a cafeteria called Brek that we had visited the last time we were here, in 2007.  It isn't fancy, but the food is good, and we all ate dinner for much less than the cost of our lunch!  A quick trip to the gelato stand, and we were ready for our trip down the Grand Canal in the fading light.  We arrived back at our stop, San Marco/San Zaccareo, just as the last of the light faded from the sky, and all agreed that it was time for bed.

Tomorrow, we are beginning the day with the Ducal Palace!  Since it is still taking 20 minutes to load each picture, I will try again for pictures tomorrow!