Our plan for this morning was to head over to St Marks Square. Today was a sunny one, after being chilly and cloudy yesterday.
A beverage boat carrying soda, beer, water and who knows what else. An example of how everything must be brought into the city and unloaded, usually by hand.
We made our way to the Doges Palace, or Palazzo Ducale. The doge (dohzh)was the ruling duke. In 810 the doge decided to move the government here. He built a fortified palace, the most powerful half-acre of land in all of Europe for 400 years. The Ducale was the home of the doge and the center of political life.
The original main entrance to the palace was the Carta door. Above the door is a relief of Francesco Foscari, who was the doge at the time the doorway was built. He is kneeling before the lion of St Mark. This symbol of the lion is everywhere in Venice. In most his front paws are on the ground and book, while his back paws are in the water. This represented the might of Venice on land and sea.
The portico on the first floor of the palace.
Once again, photography was prohibited inside the palace. Since we had prepurchased passes, we were able to skip the lines and walk right in. The first place you see immediately after you enter is the inner courtyard. The courtyard is rather large and interesting. The four sides of the palace were not built in the same period, so they are each different from the other.
Once foreign diplomats entered the main gate, under the powerful lion, they immediately came upon the staircase of Giants, built at the end of the 15th century. Diplomats would have to climb these stairs to meet the doge. The statues were a reminder of Venetian power on land (statue on left) and at sea (statue on right). This is also where each new doge was crowned.
The self guided tour of the palace was very interesting. Room after room of history, paintings, and architecture. Some of the highlights included the doges apartment, the Golden staircase, the Senate room, the Council of Ten room, the Compass and Map rooms, and the Armament room where the weapons were kept.
Another intesting part of the palace was the tribunal room. This is where people were sentenced and possibly sent to prison. Prisoners would be led along passages, steep staircases and dark corridors to reach their cells in the New Prisons. Prisoners would be would cross the famous Bridge of Sighs, where they might enjoy one last look at the splendor of Venice before entering the cold dark cells of prison. You get a good feel of this as you make your way through the bridge and into the prison. The cells were small with heavy iron bars and thick wooden doors. The Doge Palace was one of my favorites of the trip.
View of St Marks Piazza looking out on the Bacino di St Marco. Notice the lion again.
Artwork displayed on the second floor portico at Doges Palace.
Seagull display on the second floor portico of the Doges Palace.
Brandon reading his Venice for Kids book while we wait in line.
After leaving the Doges Palace we headed next door to the Basilica of St Mark. The lines were long, even though the admission is free. Katrina got in line while I took Brandon to find a granita. Fragola was his flavor of choice.
The line actually moved fairly quickly. You cannot enter the basilica in shorts or tank tops - knees and shoulders must be covered. We entered and were immediately amazed at the mosaics on the ceilings. Almost all the ceilings in the basilic are mosaic. This is the third version of the basilica. The first one burned to the ground during a revolt against the doge in which the palace was burned and the basilica burned as well. The second was eventually replaced by the present building because it was small and did not represent the wealth of Venice. The current basilica was completed in 1071.
In the entry portico we took a very steep and long stairway up to the second floor. This is where the museum is housed. Visiting the church is free. The museum is e3. The museum had displays of many mosaics that had been saved from during renovations. It also has four bronze sculptures of horses that at one time stood above the front doors of the church. Reproductions now grace the front entry. You can access the basilica roof from the museo. We went out to see the view.
Views from the roof of St Marks Basilica.
We wandered around the basilica and looked closely at how the light highlighted the different mosaics on the ceilings.
It was time for lunch. We crossed St Marks Square and began looking for a bar to eat lunch at. We found a bar that had great sandwiches. Brandon had a hot dog.
After lunch we had decided to split up for a few hours. Katrina wanted to visit the Peggy Guggenheim Museo, but didn't want to be distracted by Brandon's boredom. She headed off to the museum. Brandon and I headed off to wander the streets and see what interesting things we might find. Of course, we stopped for an after lunch gelato. We found a few interesting sights:
We found this leaning campinile (bell tower).
We found these sculptures in a small square.
We were to meet up with Katrina around 3pm at the bridge that looks upon the Bridge of Sighs.
The Bridge of Sighs sticks out between all the scaffolding.
We decided to catch a Vaporetto to Murano. We wanted to see a glass furnace demonstration, since they were all closed on Sunday. The boat ride took about 30 min from St Marks Square.
We found a glass shop with an furnace demonstations right as be exited the Vaporetto. Brandon took the following pictures:
1. The glass furnaces.
2. Glass on rod ready to be worked.
3. You can barely see it, but the glass is now a vase.
This vase took less than 10 minutes to create. The next demonstration was the creation of a stallion:
1. Gathering glass from the furnace.
2. Beginning to work the glass.
3. The head of the stallion emerges.
4. The Stallion, completed in 10 minutes.
After the demonstation we wandered through the glass shop and were invited upstairs to look at the 'high end' glass. I guess we looked like we had lots of money!?
We wandered the canals of Murano one last time before stopping for buy a bag of bussolai for an afternoon treat. We finished off an entire bag, wandered through a few more shops, then headed to the Vaporetto landing for our ride back to Venice.
We took a short break in the hotel room to relax our tired feet before heading out into Venice for dinner.
After thinking through our options for dinner we decided that we would really enjoy another night of cinese food. Brandon led the way to the Rialto Bridge and across to the other side. We had another great meal. Brandon ate his entire bowl of egg drop soup and wanted more, so we ordered another and he finished off the second one as well.
It was dark, we were tired, so we made our way back to the hotel for the night.
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