Day 26 - July 10 - Wandering Venice

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Breakfast was served in our room at 9am, a simple fare of coffee, croissants, and jam. We ate it and our remaining fruit looking out our window to the Grand Canal. Then we set out to do what we had heard was the best thing to do - wander the streets of Venice.

Our hotel had provided us with a perfect little pocket map to Venice, which we used to navigate for the next six days and which I wish I had as I write down these memories. We decided to start at the Customs House (the “Dogana di Mare”), where once upon a time every ship entering Venice had to check in. Now there is a statue of a little boy holding a frog, which is under guard by day and locked up at night. We visited a few churches, but mostly just wander the Dorsoduro and San Polo areas.

We circled all the way around until we hit the Fenice theatre. We would have bought tickets but there was nothing really playing while we were there, so we decided to do the audio tour. We spent a few hours exploring the gorgeous theatre, learning its history - how it burned down twice, and the efforts made to rebuild it in its original style. The audio tour told us the history of the theatre, how the most important guests arrived by Vaparetto. The theatre in Rome was spectacular, but the Fenice is a place to cultivate the imagination. By the end of the audio tour I could almost feel the excitement that the elite of Venice arriving for opening night.

Starving, but not willing to pay the prices of the restaurants near the Fenice, we wandered back to the Campo San Marguarhita, where we had got our pizza the night before. We had an unremarkable meal on the Campo, then decided we needed a break from the heat, and went to lie down for the rest of the afternoon in our hotel.

As the sun started to go down, we headed out again, this time to see the Rialto. It was not at all what Sam was expecting. By now, all of the shops were closed, but it was still swamped with people. We stopped for a few minutes to watch the crowds on the bridge and on the canal, then decided to go get another pizza and call it a day.

On the way to Campo San Marguarhita, we got lost and ended up hitting a dead end! The signs to the Academia saved us again. It was a very Venitian experience, and lightened my mood, distracting me from my own exhaustion.

At the Campo, I waited on a bench and watched a pair of grandparents sooth a baby and a group of children playing soccer while Sam collected our food. The evening ended looking out on the Canal, watching the boats move through the darkness.

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