Chris and I were up, ready, and on the move again come 8am, Friday morning, May 15, 2009. We walked from the Florence apartment to the train station to purchase our tickets and depart for the destination of the day: Venice, Italy. It departed around 9am and took about two and a half hours to get to this famous city located in the northern section of the country. The city itself needs very little introduction. Famous for its canals that flow through 118 islands connected by about 400 bridges, Venice is one of the most unique cities in the world.
Our train trip was mostly uneventful. Chris and I were seated next to a very nice couple named Mark and Katie who were in the midst of a whirlwind month-long tour of Europe after just having graduated from college in Toronto. We also got to watch a gentleman in a seat across the aisle consume an entire bag of rice cakes.
With our new pals Mark and Katie. Chris and I actually ran into them again in Venice even though we had parted ways when they got off at the station before us
Look! It’s the rice cake man!
As we pulled into Venice at around 11:30, we were a bit disappointed in the dreary and slightly rainy weather. We set out on foot to explore the city anyways. Naturally, the first thing I became fascinated with – although totally expected – was the absence of roads and the presence of the hundreds of canals throughout the city. These were the only real means of transportation besides walking through the tiny alleyways between the buildings.
Roads? Where we’re going we won’t need roads
Our first stop was at the Frari (specifically, the Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari). Completed in 1338, with the campanile (bell tower) completed in 1396, the Frari is one of greatest churches in the city. Highlighting the Assumption of Mary, the altar piece is the famous Assunta by Titian (aka Tizian Vecellio, but you can call him Tizzy).
The Frari: unspectacular on the outside, gorgeous on the inside
The Assumption by Titian. No photos allowed in here. Oh well.
Venice or bust! Sorry, this is the best I could do – a figure of Pope Pius, looking a bit like Bill Clinton, in the Frari museum area
Walking by the Rialto Bridge, the most famous and oldest in the city – and one of four spanning the Grand Canal, this one riddled with small sales stalls and gypsies peddling their wares – we made our way to the most important destination of the day, the Hard Rock Cafe. That was saracastic. But not really.
My big regret of my entire trip was that I didn’t spring for a gondola ride. Who knows if or when I’ll get back…
With the Rialto, spanning the width of the Grand Canal
Chris and me atop the Rialto (as also seen in the photo at the top of the posting)
If you weren’t on a boat, then you moved around on foot in alleyways such as this one
At the time of our visit, the Hard Rock in Venice had the distinction of being the newest restaurant in the chain, having opened just over a month earlier. Less than a month later, a newer one would open in New Delhi, India. As Hard Rocks go, this one was nothing spectacular, designed in a basic two-floor cube design. The most appealing aspect was that it overlooked one of the canals, assuming you were seated in a window seat – which we were not. I went for my favorite sandwich again, the Hickory BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger.
Here it is – the newest Hard Rock Cafe
American boys and burgers in Venice
Loving all and serving all, overlooking the Venice canals
My Big Seven memorablia of the day: handwritten portions of John Lennon’s book A Spaniard in the Works, written on the backs of envelopes and scrap paper
We were in the Hard Rock a little over an hour. When we exited at about 2pm, we were very close to the Piazza San Marco – also known as St. Mark’s Square. This is the most famous and popular square in Venice, and the only one that goes by the title of piazza rather than campi. The square is surrounded by buildings that are popular tourist attractions, among them St. Mark’s Basilica, clocktower, and campanile (bell tower), the Doge’s Palace, the Procuraties, and St. Mark’s National Library and Archaeolgy Museum.
We first visited St. Mark’s Basilica, the famous Byzantine church that was consecrated in 1094. Unlike many of the churches in Italy, the exterior was just as phenomenal as the interior. The Horses of St. Mark that were originally installed on the exterior around 1254, were replaced by replicas in the 1990’s and the originals are now housed inside in the museum area of the church. Not surprisingly, photos were not allowed inside, so I only took them of the horses.
St. Mark’s Basilica and the giant bell tower across the Piazza San Marco, full of pigeons
Feeling saintly in front of St. Mark’s, amidst the crowd of people and the surprisingly absent pigeons. The horses are slightly visible at the center of the balcony of the church.
With the original Horses of St. Mark
Out on the balcony, with the horses directly behind me, and St. Mark’s Clocktower to my right adjoining the Procuratie Vecchi
The opposite angle, looking out over St. Mark’s Piazetta, the mouth of the Grand Canal, and the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, with the Doge’s Palace on the left and the Biblioteca Marciana on the right
We roamed the basilica for about a half-hour and then a little after 2:30pm entered the Doge’s Palace (known in Italian as Palazzo Ducale di Venezia). This palace was huge and impressive, full of frescoes, paintings, and maps, and of course gorgeous architecture.
Ornamental bronze wellhead in the courtyard of the palace
One of the most famous components of the palace is the Bridge of Sighs, which is merely a small bridge that spans the tiny Rio di Palazzo and connects the Doge’s palace with a prison. Convicts would walk across the bridge after being sentenced in the interrogation rooms of the palace and proceed directly to their cells. It was so named by Lord Byron in the 1800’s because legend dicated that prisoners could look out the window on their way and get their last look at beautiful Venice.
Sizing up the the Bridge of Sighs
One of the prison cells. It was easy to escape with the door open.
Ugly renovation with advertisements pretty much ruined the traditional view of the Bridge of Sighs, but there it is, the only thing that wasn’t sky blue
The last bit of business that we had in Venice was to get a boat ride on one of the canals. I knew that taking a ride in a gondola would be quite expensive (around $150 American), so Chris and I settled on riding one of the water buses. That way I could say I floated in a Venice canal. Unfortunately, Italy, or at least the stupid portions of it, were ‘striking’ that day, so there was only one waterbus running and the line was ridiculous. It would have only taken us to the train station. So in a moment of aggravation, I said to just screw it. My one and only regret of the Italy trip was that I didn’t just spring for the gondola ride.
So we walked around a bit, passing through the fish market, by the winged lion that is a mascot on Sarah’s website, over bridges, through alleys, next to canals, and finally to the little eatery by the train station. I enjoyed another delicious Döner kebab (although not as good as the one from the night before) and fragola and amarena variegato (strawberry and cherry) gelato, which included scrumptious chunks of fruit in it.
With the famous Sarahnissima lion
Okay just cross your eyes, and I’ll actually be in the gondola
Me and a gondola driver…rower…whatever you call him, he’s awful thin
We purchased our tickets and made the long journey back to Florence, leaving about 6:20 and arriving home around 9pm. Chris and I walked back to the apartment, picking up a couple of bottles of Cantina Trevigiana Cabernet from the Asian market. We drank both of them that night, as we skipped watching TV and just played classic rock from Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and The Doors on my iPod. After two bottles of wine and a hard day’s night, I’m surprised we made it from the couch to our respective beds.
Chris does his Carnac impression with our tickets. Why, you ask? Well, it had been a long day
Some furry Italian mammal behind me kept sticking their nose through my seat, so I vowed to eternalize her on my website
I had only one day left in Italy and we would be spending it wrapping up the sites in Florence.
Up next: the Italy postings will conclude…
Those original horses in the museum at St. Mark’s are supposedly ancient and came from the Arch of Trajan. Then they were on the Hippodrome of Constantinople for a long time, until they were stolen during the Fourth Crusade and taken back to Venice. Then Napoleon stole them and took them to Paris. They finally came back to Venice in 1815.
Chris
August 6th, 2009
So I shouldn’t have scribbled my name on them with a Sharpie – is that what you’re saying?
Brad
August 6th, 2009
I have a picture with Venice Lloyd!
Bob
August 13th, 2009