Looking north up the Canale di Cannaregio.
The morning was punctuated by the ringing of the bell at the church next door. We came down and had breakfast before walking out the door of the hotel at about 1000. We walked through the Cannaregio district over to St. Mark’s Square.
One of the nicest things about Venice is that there are no cars – none! I hadn’t realized that beforehand. All commerce and deliveries comes and goes by boats on canals. Hand trucks were in ample evidence to move material from the canals to the shops.
I used a map provided by the hotel to do most of the navigation, but just following the crowd worked pretty well also. So by 1045 we reached St. Mark’s square, and after reconnoitering, found the line to get into the cathedral was acceptably short and moving well. Unfortunately there was no photography allowed inside, so there are only outside shots to show for our visit. The inside decoration of the church owes more to Byzantine influences than Roman, as Jonathan pointed out, Byzantium was far more important to the merchant princes of Venice than Rome in those days. A lot of gold backed mosaics on the wall and tiled patterns on the floor were fascinating in their intricacies.
Looking north up the Canale di Cannaregio.
Jonathan walking ahead on the way to Piazza San Marco.
A stop for a canal boat.
Looking out from a canal-side arcade.
The Grand Canal - looking north from the Ponte di Rialto.
The Ponte di Rialto.
Looking south from the Ponte di Rialto.
A gondolier navigating a narrow canal.
Jonathan capturing a shot up the same canal.
Another narrow canal.
Saint Mark's Basilica.
The mosaic over the entryway to the Basilica with the famous four horses above.
St. George with the slain dragon.
The winged lion - the totem of Saint Mark.
The Torre dell'Orologio - the Clock Tower.
A prince of the city receiving wisdom from the lion of Saint Mark.
A closer view of the Clock Tower.
The columns on either side of the entrance to the Basilica were made of different stone.
The columns on the other side were as varied as the material used in the Chapel of the Medicis in Florence.
The face of the clock used at 24 hour cycle, and had various other astronomical elements.
Across the Grand Canal, Santa Maria della Salute was under renovation.
Across the lagoon, was Chiasa di San Giorgio Maggiore.
A vaporetto plying the waters of the lagoon.
Our meeting place for the 'walking seminar' the next day was Santa Maria di Visitazione.
The slightly leaning bell tower belongs to an eastern rite church San Giorgio del Greci.
Jonathan in Campo San Sebastian, where we had lunch.
A fascinating work in silver - an octopus holding a glass bowl.
One of my better shots of the trip - the boat on the canal by the balcony decorated with flowers.
The weather was overcast, a bit on the warm and humid side, although it was cooler as we walked from our hotel near the train station over to St. Mark’s Square. From there we walked along the waterfront to identify where we were to meet our “walking seminar” for tomorrow. Backtracking from there, and past Piazza San Marco to Campo San Stephano where we looked into the church (more Baroque than Byzantine). We stopped for lunch where I had a pannini of mozzarella and proscuitto (Parma ham) and Jonathan had one of the “cooked” ham which wasn’t as good as mine.
We decided to go to Murano in the afternoon, so we headed back towards the Cannaregio district. On our way, I spotted a woman that looked a lot like Nikki Giovanni (renowned poet, activist, and University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech) – and when I enquired, it was indeed she! I introduced myself as Va. Tech Class of ’79, and that I had gone to hear her speak when she visited Pasadena two years ago. She and her companion were seeking the Ponte di Rialto, so we offered to walk with them to the bridge as it was on our way to Murano. I thought about asking for a photo together, but decided that we had intruded on their vacation enough, and parted with an exchange of “Go Hokies!”
Working our way through the jumble of streets of the Cannaregio, we took the water bus (vaporetto) to Murano from the Fondamente Nuovo station. Upon reaching the island we were directed to one of the glass blowing/glass working factories where there were public demonstrations. In this case, it looked like the glassblower was processing slugs of glass for later as he wasn’t blowing or shaping (much) the molten glass. We browsed the shop on site, but didn’t see anything that excited us. Walking from the factory, we proceeded to walk along one of the canals of Murano that was lined with glass shops and restaurants. (I think they know their clientele.) We stopped into about three or four shops. Most items in the shops we didn’t enter had a certain sameness to their wares, where the ones we chose to enter had a higher degree of creativity and innovation to the pieces. I ended up buying a glass block and Jonathan a dish/coaster (The artist's name was Cesare Sent). After stopping for gelato, we hopped a vaporetto back to Venice proper, where we got off at Ferrovia station – the one closest to our hotel. After a nap, we caught up on journals and are heading out to dinner.
Still in the Cannaregio - Jonathan in the Campo dei Gesuiti.
In the glassworking shop on Murano - the artisan handling the glowing ball of molten glass.
In one of the shops, a profusion of glass chandeliers.
This canal in Murano was lined with glass shops.
A large installation of glass.
Looking back down the canal.
A close up of the glass sculpture.
Windowboxes full of geraniums.
I liked the textures and subtle colors of these steps on the canal.
Another glass sculpture.
And another close up of it.
The Church of San Michele on San Michele Island - note the levees around the church.
There was a sculpture in the lagoon beween San Michele and Venice proper.
The door to our hotel.
We wandered down the street, away from the train station, looking into assorted restaurants and looking at the menus. We settled on Al Brindisi not too far down the street – we didn’t have to cross a canal to get to it. The selection was a good one as we had an excellent meal. We both started out with scallops, while I had a baked fish dish with olives and capers that was superb, while Jonathan had sea bass. We each also had caprese for our salad. The dessert was an assortment – four selections each about the size of petit fours. For some reason unknown to us, we were presented with an after dinner drink courtesy of the house. After which we paid up and wobbled back up the street to the hotel and turned in for the evening.