Venice

Thursday 6/18/09
Today was an absolutely wonderful day. We started the day at the Rialto market, where we walked through table upon table of fresh produce and fresh fish; I’m talking so fresh it was still moving. We bought cherries that were so ripe they were an explosion of flavor in the mouth. We didn’t have a good concept of the weight of cherries, and they were priced by the kilo gram, so we figured we’d get one… well one kilo gram is more cherries then either of us imagined. Almost three times the amount we would normally get in the store. So we gorged ourselves on cherries and a croissant a piece for breakfast, and had some more cherries for mid morning snack, and somehow managed to finish off a kilo of cherries in under 3 hours with little to no difficulty. It was so leisurely and wonderful to sit on the steps of a cathedral and munch on cherries and watch the world go by. We saw the Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari which was full of lovely artwork which is quite famous, but I hadn’t heard of many of them. We also saw Santa Maria della Salute, for which is the large domed cathedral which the Venice skyline is famous. We journeyed to Piazza San Marco where we saw the Basilica San Marco which was absolutely stunning. The inside was utterly beautiful. The stone floor was covered in various designs, and the cavernous domed ceiling was covered in a mosaic of little gold tiles that sparkled in between frescos of famous biblical scenes and a variety of saints. Unfortunately photography is forbidden inside, so we couldn’t get pictures. Next we went to the Campanile which is the bell tower located in the square. We waited in line for much shorter a time then expected, and then were able to take an elevator all the way to the top for a spectacular view of the city. Next we took a little siesta for lunch and got out of the heat for a couple hours and rested our tired feet and backs. Then we were out again to do some more exploring. We have found that one of our favorite ways to explore is to go out and get lost. Call it luck, but we find the most interesting things while we’re lost. We found the Plazzo Contarini Del Bovolo which is famous for it’s “snail staircase” which climbs it’s way up the side of the building. We grabbed a quick and cheap dinner at a café knowing that we would want to sit at a more expensive café later and enjoy coffee and dessert. So later we ended up back in Piazza San Marco and we got Caffe Latte and Tiramisu at one of the outdoor café’s in the square. We sat and savored our coffee and listened to a several bands play live music all evening. We sat there savoring the moment for almost 3 hours, so I’d say we got our money’s worth for the over priced coffee. We also met a lovely couple who was also traveling, and had a fun time conversing with them and people watching together. We finally left the square at 10:30pm, but things weren’t calming down, it seemed that there are even more people in Venice at night then by day. It was amazing to see the number of people who gathered in the square to listen to music, or have a gelato and enjoy the ambiance. Tomorrow we are up early once again to catch a train. We’re planning to see Pisa and then on to Florence.