Venice, Day 2

It was another hot day today! I can’t believe how hot it has been! We made our way through the maze of alleys, including over the top of the Rialto bridge, to get to St. Mark’s Square.

We spent most of our day around the square, going into lots of shops and looking at all the architecture. The cathedral was beautiful from the outside, and the inside didn’t disappoint. The ceilings, including the area just inside the atrium before even getting into the cathedral, were covered in gold. The inside of the cathedral was very ornate with more gold everywhere. There was a mass going on in one side of the cathedral and Ronin wanted to go pray, so he, JonPaul, and Willow went to the other side of the church where the mass was being held. Ronin was entranced with the liturgy.

The crowds were picking up now, and I had forgotten the tickets for the Doge’s Palace back at the apartment. So I ran back to pick them up while everyone else went shopping. I walked by the Rialto bridge, saw a really neat lamp holder, and passed an opera house that was holding rehearsals that I could hear from outside.

Walking around the square there were lots of people and lots of pigeons! We didn’t go up the bell tower, but it was there looming in the foreground. There were some fancy restaurants around the square, and a few even had live music playing. We stopped and listened to several of these as we were walking around.

One of the things Zoey really wanted to see was the Bridge of Sighs. We have a painting of this at our house, and she has been talking about going to see the bridge. Well, today was the day. She was so excited to see the bridge from both outside, and later from the inside. The best part was a gondola going underneath, just like our painting.

We had tickets to go to the Doge’s Palace, which was really cool and so contrasting. The ceilings were covered in gold and so glittery, while the paintings were mostly dark. The rooms were so large, and even though it is called a palace it was more like the government building. There was a display of armor and weapons, which Ronin really liked. Willow liked the armor for the horses. The palace even held the jails, which were neat to look in.

There were some good views from the upper levels, and Zoey looked out the Bridge of Sighs for a long time.

After the palace we tried to go to the Correr Museum but we had missed our ticket time. That’s okay, we got a few more pictures of the square.

Our last stop today was at the Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, which is the burial place of Titian. This was a really pretty church, definitely not as fancy as St. Mark’s but full of beautiful artwork. We got here right in time to see the church before it closed.

It was another long day, but I’m glad we got to go to Venice. Half of the fun was just wondering around getting lost in the alleys and seeing all the canals.