Life in Venezia

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We spent three glorious days in Venice chasing white fluffy bunnies through the lush pasture land (half that sentence was inserted by Armando, whose house we're staying at in Istanbul currently and I don't think I can take it out. what would we do on the streets of istanbul for 4 more days? you can guess which half). I think would all say that we were thoroughly enchanted- with the city, not the bunnies. A city with no cars, boats for buses (and everything else), singing men in striped shirts and silly hats gondolaing around, and stores full of costumes and masks everywhere- what could be better?

We stayed in a hotel in Mestre, a suburb of Venice just off the island, and took the bus in everyday over the causeway. Our first day in Venice started off magnificently with a cruise down the Grand Canal. It was just on one of the buses (ferries), but it happened to be one of the rare boats with seats on the front, and we happened to get those prime seats! Little did we know just how rare that was. The rest of our boat/bus rides were not quite as ideal, though still fun.

We got off at St. Mark's Square and visited 3 of the museums of St. Mark's as well as the Doge's Palace. The Doge's Palace was really amazing- art by Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese and many others completely covers the walls and ceilings of this immense place. In the palace is what they call "the largest room in Europe"- it's pretty big, and again- covered in art, including the longest canvas painting in the world, running the width of the room and depicting over 500 figures. We also walked through the Bridge of Sighs on our tour.

The next day we took a boat from Venice to Murano island, famous for its glass shops and factories. We saw a glass making and blowing demonstration and enjoyed the glass shops and showrooms.

To be honest, a lot of what we did in Venice has become a blur- but we saw many beautiful churches. All the churches and art were really overwhelming. It never ceased to surprise me walking into a church and finding masterpieces by Venetian artists, still being used in worship. One of the highlights was our tour of St. Mark’s Bascilica. We lined up and happened to enter just in time to take a free guided tour in English. Tours are offered free in many languages by a volunteer organization whose mission is to bring people the Biblical message and significance of the art and architecture of St. Mark’s. The tour was fabulous and we were able to understand the meaning of the mosaics in a way we never could have on our own.
Among other places, we visited the Ca D’oro (Golden Palace) on the Grand Canal, S. S. Giovanni e Paolo, and the Frari church. We enjoyed shopping on the Rialto Bridge, wandering the backstreets, watching the boats and dining on the Grand Canal. I did not enjoy the pigeons, which apparently number 5 for every person in Venice. What a grotesque abundance…

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