Busy Day at the Palazzo

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Geo: 45.4345, 12.3384

To start off, I am praising the Lord because I finally have the lodging situation pretty much finalized I believe. Called the scuola this afternoon and they were still working on it! I mentioned that I was o.k. staying someplace one week and another place the other and the gal sounded very relieved that I suggested it. Within an hour she emailed and gave me two choices one was a week in an apartment with wifi and no washing machine and then a week in a homestay with both, the other was the first 2 nights in a B&B then have an apartment with wifi and washing machine, then the last night in a B&B again, the difference was 50 euros and I went with the second choice, will have either 2 or 3 different lodging experiences but that is part of what I'm here for. I don't know if it's the same B&B both times or not, we'll see.

Today was very good, we started off with the "Secret Itineraries" Tour at the Doge Palace, this was my third time through and it was still interesting, same tour guide as one of the other times. Super interesting, heard about the government, history, and got to see the cell where Casanova was kept and how he escaped, etc... I really need to read his book when I get home. We went on another behind the scenes tour after this, I don't remember the name of it, it's fairly new I believe. It too was super interesting, we got to go up to areas (during both tours) where you don't get to on the regular visit, plus get the history from an historian and ask questions from someone that knows the answers! After the tours, we were able to walk through the regular route to finish our visit. The art is amazing, we saw Titian's, Tintoretto's, sculptures by San Severo?, and many other wonderful artists, photos to follow.

We had met our friends in Saint Marks square at 9:30, first tour started at 10 and we left around 2:00-2:30 I believe. Right next door is Saint Mark's Cathedral and the line wasn't too long so we hopped in it, a bit of a rain and was happy I brought along an umbrella. Walked through it in about 15 minutes, it's hard to really see the wonderful gold mosaics on the ceiling and walls because of the poor lighting and it wasn't a sunny day so that didn't help either. Fantastic mosaic floors in many different patterns all over it. If you like mosaics this is a can't miss stop for you.

We said goodbye to our friends, we each went to our own apts for lunch and then to explore on our own for the rest of the day. We'll meet at 9 in the morning to explore the outer islands together tomorrow.

Had a great lunch of sandwiches or (panini here), went out to get a few more groceries, found the store much better second time around, came back put it all away then out to figure out the vaporetto situation for tomorrow. Took the number 4.2 to Fondemente Nove stop, that is where you pick up the boat to go out to the outer islands of Burano, Murano, and Torcello. It took 55 minutes to get there so in the morning we'll walk, it will be faster! I think it's then a 45-minute boat ride out to Torcello, which is the furthest island we'll visit, it's the original island that was settled and has a church from I believe the 600's on it... We'll then hit the lace island of Burano, then on to Murano, which is where the famous glass is made, if we're still up for it we'll hit the cemetery island, it's supposed to be interesting too.

Tried to get to the tourist info shop this evening to see which boats would be the best and which stop to go to for Jim's departure on Saturday., but it closed at 7. He needs to catch the bus to the airport so we need to calculate backwards since he needs to be at the airport at least 2 hours early, don't know how long the bus takes to get there, plus the boat ride to the stop he needs to go to took 1/2 hour, then the wait for the boat, walking from the apt.... Anyway we are going to see if the info point can help us with all that, so we'll probably stop there in the morning when it opens at 9 before we head out for the islands
I also want to make sure I take the fastest route to the train station as I'll be going by myself the next day, it will be easier than Jim's route I think.

So we are back to the apt for a leisurely evening, had a great stroll through a part of the city we've not been to before, a bit less touristy in our opinion and off the beaten track a bit. I think if we ever come back it would be nice to be out a little bit more, probably a bit more economical too.

Had a dinner in of fresh gnocchi with pancetta, Aribiatta sauce, bread with olives in it, and salad plus Diet Coke made with stevia, delicious!

So I'll sign off now, am charging my Fitbit and am not getting credit for all of my steps but at the last count today I was at 13,056 and 37 floors, which is 5.62 miles, it kind of surprised me because it seemed like we did a lot more walking than that...

A presto and ciao!
Wendy

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Photos

Am not going to remember all of the room names...
This room has all of the Doge's coat of arms in order displayed, the first Doge (Duke) was elected in the 600's until the last Doge in 1797? Who surrendered to Napoleon Bonaparte.

Inquisition chamber, take a guess...
The republic of Venice was the first in Europe to do away with torture, they were very enlightened for their time...

And again, see the cells looking over the scene?
If you were in one of the overlooking cells this was considered the 1st stage of torture, and I bet it was....

The attic which holds up a huge suspended ceiling
The ship builders built the roof and supporting structure to hold up the largest suspended ceiling in Italy/Europe? of it's day, no pillars to help support if from below. Probably the best ship builders as they could put out one ship a day for their navy.

Comments

[Karen Hull]

Ahhh! Great picture! :)