Venice, Italy
After our disastrous day in Croatia, we got back on the cruise ship for our very last night on board. Next stop,
We docked early in the morning, around 8 I think. Most of the people were staying for a day or two, but we just had the one day; we were catching a train about 5pm to Florence.
This was the first time we had to deal with our luggage, which *sucked*. Luckily, there was a baggage check at the train station, which was only about half a mile from the dock. Of course we had to walk our damn suitcases that half-mile and it wasn't particularly pleasant. Some Italian guy offered to carry Richard's suitcase over this bridge thing just before the train station, then when he got to the other side with it he wouldn't give it back until Richard gave him 20 Euro! PFFT. I just carried mine. I wouldn't have paid him if it had been me. He looked really out of shape and I bet I could have outrun him and found some of the caribinieri. That's the sort of national guard there. State police, something like that.
Once we dropped off our bags and secured our tickets, we set off for a day in Venice! And can I say that it was even more beautiful than Greece?! It was the second day of the trip with no rain/clouds, but it was so epically beautiful. All blue sky and blue/green water and such a memorably bright and glorious day.
We headed out, walking toward St. Mark's Square, which is the sort of main square of the city. On the way we passed by quite a few churches and things that used to be churches:
I was actually pleasantly surprised by Venice. I'd heard everyone say it was really dirty and wasn't expecting much. It seemed mostly like a tourist trap and not like...real Italy, which is what I was hoping to get in Florence. In fact, for a long long time Venice was it's own country and not a part of Italy. Anyway, there was some dirt--impossible to avoid in a city built on water--and graffiti, but it didn't give the impression of being derelict or anything. There were a ton of little bridges and little alleys, it was very easy to get lost, but there were also a lot of signs that told us how to get back to the train station, and we had a somewhat helpful map. Anyway, I really liked it!
This is their version of a garage, I suppose:
There were also amazing shops. All the fancy Italian stuff, Versace and Fendi and whatnot, but also stuff like this:
And I preferred this Armani dog to anything the shop might have.
So, I guess for some reason in my mind I pictured Venice as a city that was just sort of flooded. But it's actually a city that's built on a bunch of different islands, which just aren't very far from one another. I mean, theoretically, it was all one land back in the ice age. Perhaps I just never really thought about it before I went there, but I thought it was cool that it's really just a bunch of different Islands. And the no car thing seems sort of just weird before you go there, and you realize how incredibly quiet it is! No cars at ALL! The only downside I see was that there wasn't really grass or trees, it was all paved courts. Unless people had gardens in back of their houses, they wouldn't get any green at all. There were obviously lots of canals, bridges, and boats, including gondolas.
Eventually, we made it to the Grand Canal and the Rialto Bridge, probably the second most famous area of Venice, next to St. Mark's Square.
Wasn't it a desperately beautiful day?!
Eventually, we got to St. Mark's Square. We happened to be there on St. Mark's Day, which is a Venetian holiday. They do an outdoor mass, which we missed, and all the men are supposed to buy a red rose for their ladies. Alas, I did not get a red rose, but I prefer tulips anyway.
Anyway, St. Mark's Square contained:
St. Mark's Basilica--most famous church in Venice, perhaps in Italy. Distinctive eastern architecture because of Venetian history as a trade post to the East. It is connected to the Doge's Palace. The Doge used to be the ruler of Venice, before Venice was a part of Italy. So this church was not really a public one but more like if the President and congress had their own church, this would be it.
Sorry about the massive amount of pictures but it was just embellished with so much stuff! It's hard to capture it all in one (or 20) pictures, between the statues, the mosaics, the flags, the metal engravings, etc etc.
St. Mark's Square also held this weird clock building:
It's a 24 hour clock and also tells the astrological sign currently ...in power? We were there in late April, so it had just moved from Aries (me) to Taurus.
Some random decoration from St. Mark's Square:
Remember when I was talking abbot the tetrarchs of the Roman Empire during our stint in Croatia? No? Well, it doesn't really matter, but this is a representation of the four co-emperors, though in this pic you can only really see two of them.
Off to the side of St. Mark's Basilica was the Bridge of Sighs. This was a bridge connecting the Doge's Palace and the jail. When this area was the government headquarters, prisoners had to walk across this bridge on their way to be executed, hence the name. It's a really really small bridge, and I was super disappointed by the fact that they had completely surrounded it with adverts! How tacky! What's next, a Walmart ribbon around the Eiffel Tower? Anyway, here it is:
The words in Italian actually mean the Sky of Sighs. Not sure why.
Here are a few shots of St. Mark's Square itself, looking toward the basilica:
and looking toward the other end:
The buildings lining the square were filled with high priced shops, mostly jewelry and designer clothes. The square is famous for its pigeons. They were everywhere and they really freaked me out. Other people were feeding them and whatnot, but no thank you. I would rather feed a shark. The big brick tower is the Campanile (bell tower), which we then paid to take an elevator ride to the top.
The campanile is famous, mostly because it completely collapsed in 1902 and was rebuilt over the next decade and a half.
When we first got up, the huge bells were ringing! And so were my ears for the next half an hour. SO LOUD!
But the views!
I'm sorry there are so many photos, but on the other hand...why wouldn't you want to see these?
There was also a good view of the square from up there:
We took one last look at our boat:
Then headed back down in search of a Gondola Ride. So, a word about Gondolas. There are only a few places where you can get a 'real' Gondola ride with a licensed gondolier. They have to take a really difficult test and it's a prestigious job there. Everyone else is just a fake gondolier. They do the same thing, but they cost twice as much and if you end up in the drink or something, you won't get your money back. So you have to look for the official gondolier stations, and they have a set price. It's not cheap. Our ~30 min ride cost me 80 euro, which is about 120 bucks. YIPES. But when the fuck am I going to be in Venice again?!
So these are shots from our boat:
Traffic Jam!
After the Gondola ride, we had some pizza in a little place in an alley where we got lost. I spoke Italian for the first time since entering Italy, and managed to say that "I think the men's room is free" while waiting in line for the ladies' room. I was very proud of myself for that, though I did say it wrong. Still, communicating with the locals and all! And that's not exactly the phrase you learn in your phrase books!
We had some gelato (god how I love gelato!) and found another weird clock:
And made our way back to the train station. We had a terrible 3 hour train ride to Florence. There were two American women who had gone to Venice to shop and were just absolutely blech. They belonged on the Real Housewives of whatever...and a guy who was listening to Lady Gaga on his headphones so loud I could understand the words from 3 rows away. But then, FLORENCE! The city I've wanted to see since I was 11. The most magical place on earth!
So next time, when I feel up to all the raving I will have to do, will be Florence!
We docked early in the morning, around 8 I think. Most of the people were staying for a day or two, but we just had the one day; we were catching a train about 5pm to Florence.
This was the first time we had to deal with our luggage, which *sucked*. Luckily, there was a baggage check at the train station, which was only about half a mile from the dock. Of course we had to walk our damn suitcases that half-mile and it wasn't particularly pleasant. Some Italian guy offered to carry Richard's suitcase over this bridge thing just before the train station, then when he got to the other side with it he wouldn't give it back until Richard gave him 20 Euro! PFFT. I just carried mine. I wouldn't have paid him if it had been me. He looked really out of shape and I bet I could have outrun him and found some of the caribinieri. That's the sort of national guard there. State police, something like that.
Once we dropped off our bags and secured our tickets, we set off for a day in Venice! And can I say that it was even more beautiful than Greece?! It was the second day of the trip with no rain/clouds, but it was so epically beautiful. All blue sky and blue/green water and such a memorably bright and glorious day.
We headed out, walking toward St. Mark's Square, which is the sort of main square of the city. On the way we passed by quite a few churches and things that used to be churches:
I was actually pleasantly surprised by Venice. I'd heard everyone say it was really dirty and wasn't expecting much. It seemed mostly like a tourist trap and not like...real Italy, which is what I was hoping to get in Florence. In fact, for a long long time Venice was it's own country and not a part of Italy. Anyway, there was some dirt--impossible to avoid in a city built on water--and graffiti, but it didn't give the impression of being derelict or anything. There were a ton of little bridges and little alleys, it was very easy to get lost, but there were also a lot of signs that told us how to get back to the train station, and we had a somewhat helpful map. Anyway, I really liked it!
This is their version of a garage, I suppose:
There were also amazing shops. All the fancy Italian stuff, Versace and Fendi and whatnot, but also stuff like this:
And I preferred this Armani dog to anything the shop might have.
So, I guess for some reason in my mind I pictured Venice as a city that was just sort of flooded. But it's actually a city that's built on a bunch of different islands, which just aren't very far from one another. I mean, theoretically, it was all one land back in the ice age. Perhaps I just never really thought about it before I went there, but I thought it was cool that it's really just a bunch of different Islands. And the no car thing seems sort of just weird before you go there, and you realize how incredibly quiet it is! No cars at ALL! The only downside I see was that there wasn't really grass or trees, it was all paved courts. Unless people had gardens in back of their houses, they wouldn't get any green at all. There were obviously lots of canals, bridges, and boats, including gondolas.
Eventually, we made it to the Grand Canal and the Rialto Bridge, probably the second most famous area of Venice, next to St. Mark's Square.
Wasn't it a desperately beautiful day?!
Eventually, we got to St. Mark's Square. We happened to be there on St. Mark's Day, which is a Venetian holiday. They do an outdoor mass, which we missed, and all the men are supposed to buy a red rose for their ladies. Alas, I did not get a red rose, but I prefer tulips anyway.
Anyway, St. Mark's Square contained:
St. Mark's Basilica--most famous church in Venice, perhaps in Italy. Distinctive eastern architecture because of Venetian history as a trade post to the East. It is connected to the Doge's Palace. The Doge used to be the ruler of Venice, before Venice was a part of Italy. So this church was not really a public one but more like if the President and congress had their own church, this would be it.
Sorry about the massive amount of pictures but it was just embellished with so much stuff! It's hard to capture it all in one (or 20) pictures, between the statues, the mosaics, the flags, the metal engravings, etc etc.
St. Mark's Square also held this weird clock building:
It's a 24 hour clock and also tells the astrological sign currently ...in power? We were there in late April, so it had just moved from Aries (me) to Taurus.
Some random decoration from St. Mark's Square:
Remember when I was talking abbot the tetrarchs of the Roman Empire during our stint in Croatia? No? Well, it doesn't really matter, but this is a representation of the four co-emperors, though in this pic you can only really see two of them.
Off to the side of St. Mark's Basilica was the Bridge of Sighs. This was a bridge connecting the Doge's Palace and the jail. When this area was the government headquarters, prisoners had to walk across this bridge on their way to be executed, hence the name. It's a really really small bridge, and I was super disappointed by the fact that they had completely surrounded it with adverts! How tacky! What's next, a Walmart ribbon around the Eiffel Tower? Anyway, here it is:
The words in Italian actually mean the Sky of Sighs. Not sure why.
Here are a few shots of St. Mark's Square itself, looking toward the basilica:
and looking toward the other end:
The buildings lining the square were filled with high priced shops, mostly jewelry and designer clothes. The square is famous for its pigeons. They were everywhere and they really freaked me out. Other people were feeding them and whatnot, but no thank you. I would rather feed a shark. The big brick tower is the Campanile (bell tower), which we then paid to take an elevator ride to the top.
The campanile is famous, mostly because it completely collapsed in 1902 and was rebuilt over the next decade and a half.
When we first got up, the huge bells were ringing! And so were my ears for the next half an hour. SO LOUD!
But the views!
I'm sorry there are so many photos, but on the other hand...why wouldn't you want to see these?
There was also a good view of the square from up there:
We took one last look at our boat:
Then headed back down in search of a Gondola Ride. So, a word about Gondolas. There are only a few places where you can get a 'real' Gondola ride with a licensed gondolier. They have to take a really difficult test and it's a prestigious job there. Everyone else is just a fake gondolier. They do the same thing, but they cost twice as much and if you end up in the drink or something, you won't get your money back. So you have to look for the official gondolier stations, and they have a set price. It's not cheap. Our ~30 min ride cost me 80 euro, which is about 120 bucks. YIPES. But when the fuck am I going to be in Venice again?!
So these are shots from our boat:
Traffic Jam!
After the Gondola ride, we had some pizza in a little place in an alley where we got lost. I spoke Italian for the first time since entering Italy, and managed to say that "I think the men's room is free" while waiting in line for the ladies' room. I was very proud of myself for that, though I did say it wrong. Still, communicating with the locals and all! And that's not exactly the phrase you learn in your phrase books!
We had some gelato (god how I love gelato!) and found another weird clock:
And made our way back to the train station. We had a terrible 3 hour train ride to Florence. There were two American women who had gone to Venice to shop and were just absolutely blech. They belonged on the Real Housewives of whatever...and a guy who was listening to Lady Gaga on his headphones so loud I could understand the words from 3 rows away. But then, FLORENCE! The city I've wanted to see since I was 11. The most magical place on earth!
So next time, when I feel up to all the raving I will have to do, will be Florence!