September 10, 2024

Venice

 

Paul was up at usual time (5 AM) prayed, read e-mails, did puzzles (BTW - Paul has foresworn newspapers, TV/Internet news and memes for the duration of the vacation) and went outside to greet the day.

 

Walking out to the pier and looking back, the Hotel Excelsior was magnificent!

 

 

Shirley also was up at usual time (7-ish).  (Does this mean we are un-jet-lagged?) Viking bought us breakfast at the hotel which was typical European buffet.  Good coffee and an unusual fellow diner.

 

                                                                    (look close)

After breakfast we queued up for the 20 minute water shuttle to Venice.  I must say it is quite an experience traveling in the lagoon.  The lagoon is so much more than Venice.  There are a lot of islands each with its own story.  The Lido Island where we are staying is unusual.  There are cars.  There is the beach with a million cabanas. There are canals.

 

We were dropped off near St. Mark’s Square.  We first went to the Basilica of St. Mark to marvel at the mosaics, the history and solemn holiness of this church built in 804.  There we said prayers for a few friends who need them and lit a couple of candles. One was on the occasion of our son’s birthday.

 

 

After our tour of the church, we stepped out onto the Square.  It was our first visit since 2007 and we duplicated a picture made then.  We also did a bit of window shopping and found a neat store which our granddaughter Jenny would have loved to spend a week looking at and trying out the wares. After the Square we entered the warren of mostly narrow streets, sometimes wide, sometimes covered, sometime ending in a dead end.  We were aiming to go to the Académie Museum, and did not use Google Maps to get there.  We just wandered and looked for serendipitous moments.

 

 

We found the Académie bridge over the grand canal and, dodging tourists taking selfies, managed to cross to this really awesome art Museum.

 

 

Once inside we were overwhelmed with Renaissance art.  Bellini, Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto were displayed among many others – truly overwhelming.  They also had a couple of Hironimus Bosch works.  The audio guide was very helpful in digging deep into the movement of Renaissance art in the lagoon.  We liked it better than the Académie in Florence, but not as great as the Uffizi – maybe a 9 of 10.

 

After the Museum we found a sidewalk café, split a carbonara and did a nice bit of people watching.  There were a fair number of tourists, but this was certainly not the high season.  After lunch we wound our way toward the Rialto bridge – again marveling at the shops, the restaurants, the Gelato stands (very odd - some gelato shops had long lines while others did not.) As we neared the Rialto bridge, the crush of tourists became evident.  Several tour groups were wandering the environs and everyone had to take a selfie at this iconic bridge.  We saw what seemed like the café we ate at in 2007 – that was worth a picture.

 

We continued our wandering back to St. Mark’s Square.  There were some signs to help us, but sometimes the “street” was dark and deserted.  We happened on several places that seemed familiar and popped into a few of them.  There are many churches, and they were all open (with disclaimers that the church does not solicit money from anyone inside).  Apparently, there are people who would stoop so low – or be that desperate – that they would pan handle or misrepresent a church sanctioned effort inside a church. These churches are well maintained and have that sense of history (if these walls could talk …)

 

We emerged near the clock tower on St. Mark’s square and made our way through the throngs (not really – more like a crowd) of tourists.  By this time there was quite a line to enter the basilica. Our shuttle boat was right on time and in 22 minutes we were back at the hotel for a well-earned rest.

 

Fresh and rested we took a stroll on the beach getting our feet wet in the Adriatic Sea.

 

  

Then it was time for a quiet libation at the hotel bar before repairing to Bagno Marconi again for dinner.  This time Lobster and Linguini followed by Tiramisu and Ice Cream with Strawberries. We walked back on the beach to our posh hotel and got ready for tomorrow.  Our bags that are destined for the ship must be out by 6:30 AM and we will leave the Lido at 9:30.

 

This was a day that built many good memories.  Buena Sera!

 

Oh – and 14674 steps today, Anna 