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Published: June 29th 2010
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BRIDGE OF SIGHS
Char (L) and Elysee (R) two sighing ladies at the Bridge of Sighs Excerpted from my book, OUR SUMMER IN SLOVENIA, available at Amazon.com
Our friends, Char and Al Love, who we linked up with in Budapest, stayed a few days at our apartment in Bled, and we promised to take them to Venice, Italy where they were to board a train. Sounds complicated? Not really, and that is one of the surprises about Slovenia. How well Slovenia is situated for side trips to some of Europe's most desirable stopovers.
To get from our apartment in Bled to the Venice parking garage was just a short 2 1/ 2 hour drive, and we took a longer route than necessary passing through more of Slovenia’s pastoral countryside.
Our hotel in Venice was the Metropole, situated directly on the lagoon and constructed in the 1890’s as a private residence, has been a well- known Venice hotel for almost 100 years. It was for us a sanctuary of peace and civility after the mobs of people in the city. The hotel lobby looks across the lagoon to the commanding church Santa Maria della Salute, built in the mid-1600s to honor Mary for delivering the city from the plague. The décor is an eclectic collection
SANTA MARIA DELLA SALUTE
Seen across the Lagoon from our hotel window of furnishings gathered during those past hundred years, giving the place a cluttered bygone elegance that is a delight. No room is furnished the same. For example, the room Elysee and I occupied was furnished with a stylish deco bedroom suite made of matching marble and inlaid veneers, an ultra-modern bath, with the window overlooking the canal on which the hotel had its private dock. The bar and lounge were equally inviting, encouraging one to enjoy a lingering morning coffee or afternoon drink rather than venturing forth to do battle with the hordes that invaded the Old Lady of the Lagoon.
After settling in, it being only 3 p.m., we did something very smart for which I credit Al’s enthusiasm and get-up-and-go. Immediately we set forth to St. Marks Square and bought tickets for the Doge Palace. This in hindsight was a very good move, because even on Monday, the next day, the lines to get into the Palace and St. Marks Basilica looked like a queue to view a deceased head of state. We could only surmise that it being late on Sunday most tourists had already visited the Palace or were too worn-out and back at their hotels. In any event we strode right in, picked up our individual headsets and proceeded with about a 2 to 3 hour tour. The experience of touring the palace today is vastly improved by the availability of headset guided tours. On a long-ago visit I had made you either bought a scanty guidebook and figured it out for yourself, or hired one of the available guides lounging outside the Palace-- persons of dubious qualifications except that they likely were born in Venice. Except for the tape frequently malfunctioning (they really can do better than several-generation-old Casio recorders), it was a very pleasant, informative, self-pacing experience and I’m sooo glad we went straight to the Palace as the next day the lines were intolerable.
After the Palace tour, how about a drink at St. Mark’s square--a time honored tradition? Well the Venetians have figured out how to capitalize on that experience. Each outdoor café had its own five-or-six piece ensemble playing pleasant ditties for patrons’ enjoyment. The catch: five Euros apiece to sit down. Effectively a $25 cover charge for a cup of coffee! We passed on principle and returned to our lovely hotel, which had atmosphere to spare.
On the way we stopped for a picture of two sighing ladies back- dropped by the Bridge of Sighs. This is not historically correct, however, for the sighs associated with the bridge are not from the love sighs of longing maidens, but from prisoners being brought across the bridge from their dungeons to the justice being meted out in the connecting Doge Palace.
Having been traveling all day we decided to dine at the hotel as is has a very nice, and for Venice unusual, garden restaurant in the back where there is live entertainment, as well as an elegant indoor dinning room overlooking the canal. We thankfully chose the latter for by dinner time it had begun to rain. Seated at a prime table by the window we had an excellent meal, cocktails and wine, unhurried and attentively served. The bartender at the Metropole was excellent.
Coffee and dessert were taken in the lounge and there too we enjoyed live music until time to retire. Before doing so Elysee and I stepped outside and sat looking across the lagoon. The city was now quiet and could be enjoyed for her storied past. Elysee, inspired by the moment, danced across the pavers where so many had trod over centuries. The day overall was pleasant, thanks to the Metropole.
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