Venice

    We had one more destination on our "Gotta see while we're in Europe" list. Venice. It was the first place that Piper had wanted to visit when we got here and we hadn't made it there. This weekend was our last chance.
    Venice is a good eight hour drive from Bruchsal so we started very early on Saturday morning. We were out the door by a little after 5 am heading south toward Italy. Very soon after we started the sun began to rise causing color to explode across the sky. I love watching the sun rise - how the color starts small and then grows and grows. Then suddenly, when I don't think it could get any more gorgeous, the bright orange sun peeks over the horizon and completes the loveliness.

Snoozing on the way.

     The sunrise was even more spectacular than the pictures show. Unfortunately it was mainly happening behind me so I couldn't get the camera in a position to capture the full beauty.

      By 8 am we were driving into Switzerland - and that's where the traffic disruptions started taking a major toll on our ETA. The wonderful Gotthard Tunnel that is suppose to cut travel time, gets so clogged with traffic that I'm sure the old pass would have been faster. Traffic lights before the tunnel try to keep the traffic from getting too heavy inside the tunnel but it makes the lineup to get into the tunnel terribly long.

Good morning, Switzerland!

Traffic light before tunnel

     Once we got out of Switzerland, the drive through Italy was uneventful - other than the plethora of toll roads along the way. (By now, I think we must own a good chunk of Italian highway.) We passed through Verona and Padua on the way - both settings of Shakespeare plays. = ) Finally we got to the bridge that leads to Venice (or Venezia in Italian).

Causeway into Venice

     Then it was the familiar adventure of trying to park the car. As you probably know, there are no roads in Venice, just canals. They have two large parking lots just on the other side of the causeway where you can park your car (for a hefty fee) then either walk or take the boat-bus called the vaporetto. We parked in the cheaper, farther out parking lot and bought tickets for the vaporetto. Then we just had to find the vaporetto stop. It was a bit tricky since we weren't even sure what a vaporetto stop looked like but we found it eventually. The stop itself is a covered barge-like boat tied to the shore with a couple of ramps going to it. At first we thought that was the vaporetto but decided it must not be when we approached it and found no one inside. Luckily a couple people who knew the system came soon and we just followed what they did. While waiting for the boat we realized that we couldn't get the vaporetto that we wanted at that stop - we had to ride up two stops then switch to a different vaporetto. (I had downloaded a audio tour of the Grand Canal narrating the sights along the public vaporetto route but we had to get on the right one.) 

On the vaporetto

     This hopping off was not too much trouble except when it came to finding the next, right vaporetto. We investigated several "barge stops" along this stretch of very busy canal-way before finding the right one. We found some seats in the back of the boat and started our audio tour.

     The Grand Canal is Venice's "main street". It is more than 2 miles long, 150 feet wide, and almost 15 feet deep. It is the remnant of a river that once flowed from the main land out into the Adriatic Sea. It carried sediment out to the sea forming a lagoon. The fish shaped isle of Venice was built on the nearly one hundred little marshy islands of the old delta of that river. Twenty-five miles of canals snake through Venice with 400 bridges connecting the little islands. Only three of the canals are officially canals - the others are called rivers.

     Venice was founded in the 5th and 6th centuries as the Roman empire was crumbling. Those that lived on the coast fled to islands like Venice to escape the barbarians. They sank pilings into the mud to create foundations for their buildings. Venice lies right where the East meets the West, so soon the fishermen turned into traders. For a long time, Venice was the world's richest city. Lavish palaces that were once frescoed in brilliant colors line the canal. Their front doors lead right out to the canal. Venice has strict laws that forbid any changes to these old buildings so, though the landowners hate it, visitors get to see the best preserved medieval city in Europe as it slowly decays. Because of the cost of up-keep and the miles of red tape to go through to do renovations, many of the grand buildings are empty. Some have maintained their elegance in the upper floors allowing the water to take over the ground floor. 

     We started our tour at the Ferrovia station right across from the Santa Lucia train station.

San Simeone Piccolo Church

Newest bridge crossing Grand Canal

    This bridge was opened only a couple years ago. It was designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava who has done projects all over Europe.

The peeling plaster on this palace was once a magnificent fresco.

San Stae Church

This church was founded in the 11th century then underwent reconstruction in the 17th century when it  got it's impressive Baroque style facade.

Turkish "Fondoca" Exchange

     This is one of the oldest buildings in Venice. Turkish traders used the bottom floors as a warehouse for their goods and lived in the rooms above. Venice in the 16th century welcomed all religions and ethnicities as long as they brought plenty of cash. The building is now the home of Venice's Museum of Natural History.

Casino

     In the 18th century, Venice was the Las Vegas of Europe with many casinos in the city. Today they are run by the city to control the Mafia influence (not sure how that works but that's what I was told). This one is where Richard Wagner died in 1883.

Ca' Pesaro

 "Ca" is short for casa. The only house that could be called a palace (or palazzo in Italian) was the home of the doge (the Venetian ruler). All the other houses,  no matter how grand, had to be called casas or ca, for short. Most of the houses along the canal had lovely marble facades on the front that masked plain brick buildings. The merchants put the fancy stuff out where it would be seen but, being good businessmen, didn't feel the need to decorate the parts few people saw. This particular building, though, has a rare side facade.

Ca' d'Oro

 The Ca' d'Oro (which means House of Gold) is built in the Venetian Gothic style. Venetian Gothic mixes traditional Gothic (pointed arches and round medallions with a four-leaf clover center) with Byzantine styles (thin columns with tall, narrow arches) and fills in the spaces with Islam frills. In its glory days, this palace was gilded and painted with brilliant colors.

Fish Market 

This where the locals go to buy their fresh calamari, cuttle-fish, soft-shelled crabs, and other tasty treats from the sea.

Venice Court House

Gondola  = )

Going under the Rialto bridge

Rialto Bridge

     The current Rialto bridge is the third to stand at this spot. It was built in 1588. Until the 1850s, it was the only bridge spanning the Grand Canal. Earlier additions had been able to open up to let ships through, but not this one. When this bridge was built, the area above the Rialto bridge was closed for shipping. It became a canal of palaces.
     From the 12th to the 16th century, this area of Venice was the center of trading between Northern Europe and Asia. All nationalities met here to trade in cloth, spices, Persian rugs, English iron, Austrian salt, and much more. This stretch of the canal is the only part with sidewalks along the canal. It was once the place the boats bringing supplies to the city would unload their wares. Now it is lined with restaurants.

Enjoying a tour that doesn't involve walking.

     The stretch of the Grand Canal below the Rialto Bridge has the biggest, grandest of the palaces in Venice. These palaces served several purposes. The bottom floor was the warehouse where the goods could be unloaded right from the boat. The next floor had the offices and showrooms and, above that, were the "noble floors" where the family lived. The noble floors had the largest windows. On top of that was the servant's quarters - with the smallest windows. = ) The kitchen, for safety reasons, was also located up there.
     The posts for tying up boats are painted with colorful designs. These designs were like the family's coat-of-arms in the old days.

Palazzo Balbi

     This was once the home of an early 17th century captain general of the sea, Venice's equivalent of a five-star admiral. He had the honor of having his house decorated with twin obelisks. It is now the home of the administrative headquarters of the regional government.

Fire Station

The building with the four arches just before the bridge is the fire station. Four fireboats float ready to go if a fire breaks out in the city.

Ca' Foscari - part of the University of Venice

Ca' Rezzonico 

Palazzo Grassi

     Built in the late 18th century, this was the last major palace built on the canal.

Rare bit of greenery in Venice

Accademia Bridge

This bridge was built in 1934 as a temporary bridge. But the locals liked it so it stayed.

Peggy Guggenheim Collection

     Peggy Guggenheim (1898-1979) was an American heiress who moved to Venice and became a great supporter of modern artists. She was known for living life large. She entertained all sorts of artists including Picasso, Igor Stravinsky, Marlon Brando, Truman Capote, and John Lennon. When she died she willed the city her collection of modern art.

Salviati building - once a glass works
Notice the mosaic on the wall.

Palazzo Dario

      See the funnel shaped chimneys on top of Palazzo Dario? They force embers through a loopy chamber until they are dead. In the old days, the stone palaces were surrounded by the humble wooden homes of the workers. A stray live ember could make them all homeless.

Gritti Palace Hotel

    This is a very fancy hotel that has hosted guests such as Ernest Hemingway and Woody Allen.

La Salute Church

   The Church of St. Mary of Good Health was built to thank God for delivering the city from the terrible plague of 1630 that had killed nearly a third of the city's population. Mary stands at the top of the dome dressed as an admiral and holding a rudder. Every year, on November 21st, they build a floating bridge that goes from the Gritti Palace to the church and Venetians come and celebrate the deliverance.
   This church has the city's heaviest dome. The foundation is made of more than a million trees piled together that reaches through the mud to the solid clay beneath.

17th century Customs House - now an art gallery

    This is where the Grand Canal opens into the Lagoon. The lagoon is 212 square miles. Venice is not the only island found in it - there's several more including Lido, Murano, Burano, and Torcello. Despite its size, the lagoon is pretty shallow. You could walk across most of it without even getting your hair wet. This shallow water full of sandbars kept Venice safe from attack by land or sea. In fact, it is the only medieval city that has never needed a wall around it.
     Venice was known as the "Bride of the Sea" because her wealth was dependent on sea trade. The "marriage" was celebrated every year by the people. The doge would board his ritual boat and sail out into the lagoon. He'd make a vow to the sea and toss a jeweled ring into the water and the marriage was sealed for another year.

San Giorgio Maggiore Church
Built in the 16th century

Residential island of Guidecca

   We floated past San Marco Square. I'll tell you more about that later.

Campanile

San Marco Square

Doge's Palace

    We disembarked at the stop just past San Marco Square and walked along the water side past the old Venetian prison and the Doge's Palace stopping for a look at the famous sky bridge that connects the two buildings.

The Bridge of Sighs

     The condemned prisoners crossed this bridge from the Doge's Palace on the left to the prison on the right. It was originally called the Prison's Bridge, but, in the 19th century it was given a much more romantic name by Lord Byron. He wrote that as the prisoner was taken across the bridge, he would paused for one last look at beautiful Venice and sigh. So now it is the Bridge of Sighs. = )

       We passed the two large columns that had been looted from Constantinople. The winged lion of St. Mark, the patron saint of the city, sits on one column. The 15 foot long lion is more than 2000 years old. On top of the other column is St. Theodore standing on a crocodile. He was the patron saint of Venice until St. Mark replaced him.

St. Mark's and St. Theodore's columns

 Our next stop was a tour of St. Mark's Basilica.

Side of St. Mark's Basilica

    St. Mark's Basilica was built with the booty looted during Venice's Glory Days. All sorts of styles are represented - Roman arches, Greek columns, Bystantine mosaics, French Gothic pinnacles and roofline, and onion-shaped domes in the Islamic style.
     The original church burnt down in 976. The current building was started in 1063 and hasn't changed  much since then. Over the centuries, more and more materials looted from buildings throughout the Venetian empire have been added to the church. The style has come to be called "Early Ransack."

Waiting in line to go in.

Mosaic over the right side door

Mosaic of Christ over center doorway 

Gorgeous carving in the arches

     Did you notice that the pillars lining the walls of the exterior of the the church were multicolored? Another sign of the "Early Ransack" style. = )
      Just inside the main doors is the atrium. The ceiling is covered in 13th century mosaics made to tell Bible stories to the illiterate worshipers.
      The church is laid out in the Greek Cross format. It has four equal arms stretching from a center dome. Each of the arms is also topped with a dome. This church has the look of a typical Eastern Orthodox church with the top half lined with mosaics and icon-like images of Jesus, Mary, and the saints. The lower walls are covered with different colored marble. The floor is even done in a geometric mosaic. The floor is very uneven - it rises and falls like waves of stone. (Venice is shifting and sinking and you can see the effects in the church floor.)
     The first dome we came to had one of the oldest (from around 1125) and best mosaics the church has - the Pentecost Mosaic. In the center of the dome is the dove representing the Holy Spirit. Emanating from the dove are rays igniting the tongues of fire on the heads each of the 12 apostles seated around the outside of the dome. The mosaic is done in the Byzantine icon style. The background is gold symbolizing the sacred. The apostles are each topped with a halo, and have solemn faces and almond eyes. They face forward with a hand raised in blessing. The style was intended to emphasize a otherworldliness instead of human detail. They were trying to be careful not to create "graven images" of holy things that then would be worshipped themselves.

Greek Cross chandelier hanging below Pentecost Mosaic

Pentecost Mosaic

    In the center dome is the Ascension mosaic. Here the resurrected Christ ascends into heaven riding a rainbow. The white robed apostles stand below on the Mount of Olives waving good-bye. Mary stands with them. Below them, the Virtues stand between the windows. The window lit dome represented heaven in Byzantine churches, and the dark church below represented Earth. While Western Christianity focuses on the death of Jesus Christ, Eastern Orthodox believers focus on the parts after that - the resurrection, the post-death miracles, and, of course, the ascension.

Ascension Mosaic

     I could go on and on but instead I'll just show you some pictures.

      After the tour we went back outside to get a better look at the exterior of the church.

Outside mosaic (I made it really big so you could see what's going on.)

    The above mosaic (from 1260) is over the left side door. It shows the church and the theft that put it on the pilgrimage map. The two guys in the center with the white staffs are carrying in the body of St. Mark which they have "rescued" from Muslim lands. The story goes that seven centuries after St. Mark's death, his body was in Muslim-occupied Alexandria, Egypt. In 828, Two merchants decided to take the body to good Christian Venice with them, saving it from the heathens. They hid the body in a pork barrel (Muslims consider pork unclean), and smuggled it home with them. There they presented the body to the doge (he's the one on the right with the white collar). They built the church over the bones of St. Mark and made him their patron saint. St. Mark's symbol, the winged lion, is all over Venice.

Bronze horses 

    These bronze horse are actually modern copies of the famous bronze horses that use to stand on top of the church. Originally they pulled a chariot. Historians aren't sure how old the original horses are but legend says they were made in Alexander the Great's time, then taken by Nero to Rome. Constantine later took them to Constantinople to decorate his chariot racecourse. When the Venetians sacked and looted Constantinople in 1204, the horses were brought here. But they weren't done traveling yet. Napoleon took a fancy to them when he marched in and had the horses moved to a triumphal arch in Paris in 1797. When Napoleon was defeated the horses came back here. They were moved inside to protect them from damage from pollution.

     Next we looked around San Marco Square, the square St. Mark's Basilica opens out onto. The square is two and a half acres lined on with cafes and shops.

San Marco Square

      On the right when facing the basilica the bell tower, or Campenile, rises up 300 feet. Next to it is the "New" offices built in the 1600s.

New offices

  The New offices boast the classic order of columns - from bottom to top there's Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. On the other side of the Square is the "Old" offices.

The "Old" offices - these were built in the 1500

Clock Tower 

     The clock tower was built in 1496. At the very top, though you can't see them in the picture, are two giants with hammers. At the top of the hour, they hit a huge bell with their hammers. The clock dial on the front shows the 24 hours, the signs of the zodiac, and the phases of the moon. Above that is the world's first digital clock that updates every 5 minutes - it reads 5:00 in the picture. The winged lion, the symbol of St. Mark, stands above that with a open book that reads "Pax Tibi Marce" or "Peace to you, Mark." These are the words that a comforting angel spoke to a stressed out Mark one stormy night on this island - so the legend goes, anyway.

The Campanile

      The original Campanile was not only a bell tower but also a lighthouse guarding the entrance to the Grand Canal. It was a 10th century marvel - until 1902 when it crashed down into the square. The angel on the top landed right in front of the basilica door, standing upright. It was rebuilt 10 years later and the angel, which always faces the breeze, was set back on top.

Sea level gauge

    On the side of the Campanile is an instrument that measures the sea level. Occasionally, the water level gets so high that gondolas can float around the square. They take the tidal measurements here because St. Mark's Square is the first place in town to start flooding. When the tide gets very high (called the acqua alta), water bubbles up from under the paving stones in the square. When this happens a siren sounds and the Venetians all rush home to take up their carpets and raise up the furniture. The acqua alta happens about 100 times a year. Man, that would be such a hassle. Imagine knowing that your house is going to flood 100 times a year! No wonder so many people are moving out of Venice.

Doge's Palace

Balcony of Doge's Palace

     This building has several nicknames - "The Wedding Cake", "The Table Cloth", and "The Pink House" are a few. This was the home of the Venetian ruler known as the doge (or duke). From 1150 to 1150 this was the most powerful half-acre in Europe. The outside contrasts heavily with the castles that were the homes of the rulers in the other countries we've visited. Instead of the strong thick walls with cannon and arrowslits along the walls, the doge's palace is frilly and unprotected. The supporting columns at the bottom used to sit on pedestals but in the thousand years since the palace was built they have slowly sunk into the mud underneath and the bases are no longer visible.

Passageway that connects the doge's palace
to St. Mark's Basilica
Notice the winged lion.

Statue on decorating passageway

The lagoon with waiting gondolas

One more look at the Bridge of Sighs

     Then it was time for a little break.

    You have to pay a cover charge just to sit in the cafe pictured behind Piper. So we sat on the steps next to the cafe. We could still enjoy the band playing music on the little stage (just to the right of Piper's head).

Taran, of course, took the time to ripstick. = )

     After our little break, we wandered the streets of Venice looking for the perfect souvenirs.

Masks are always a great choice. Both kids found ones that suited them just right. (Not suprisingly, Taran found his right away while Piper needed to try on all the masks before deciding.)

This is not the one she ended up with.

Taran in his mask

Chillin' by the water

Does Piper know she's being followed
by a masked man?!

Ah, now that's Venice!

      It was getting late and we still hadn't eaten so we sat down at a little place by the Grand Canal. The food was a bit pricey so we though we'd get a couple pizzas for the kids and Andrew and I would share something. Well, this restaurant was in the business of fleecing the tourists that wandered in and did not appreciate our money saving strategies, so we went elsewhere for food. Just down the way we found a little shop that had good, cheap food - not the great Grand Canal atmosphere, but what can you do?
    As we ate, we walked back to San Marco Square. I really wanted to see the square at night with all the lanterns lit.

The Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge 

Rialto Bridge

San Marco Square

Clock Tower behind the kids.

     Unfortunately the flash did horrible things to pictures. But without a tripod it was either too bright pictures or blurry pictures. = ( Next time I'm bringing a tripod. It really was gorgeous - you'll just have to take my word for it.

Band playing at a cafe

     We got some gelato and sat down on the steps of the "new" offices and enjoyed the scene around us. Despite the square being full of very pushy vendors trying to sell light up flying whirly toys, we enjoyed listening to the music and watching the people. But we still had a long walk back to the car so, after finishing our gelato, we started to weave our way through Venice. The only map we had was the one in our handy guide book but the streets of Venice are very confusing. We tried to follow the signs we found pointing toward the parking lots but even those were confusing. Both of the kids were convinced that we were helplessly lost - but we were on an island - how lost could we get? We did end up wandering through some pretty lonely stretches of town.

A rare Venetian tree we stumbled upon.

A Greek style building tucked away amid plain buildings

     We stopped for directions several times.  When Venetians give directions it is never all the way to your destination. Mostly it was: "You just cross that bridge over there." But when we'd cross that bridge, we still had no idea where we were. So we'd ask again and get pointed to another bridge. Then it started to rain. At first just a gentle rain but then it really started coming down. We'd just managed to find the modern part of Venice with cars and buses but we still didn't know where our car was. Andrew was finally able to find someone to give us directions all the way to the parking garage. The rain let up and we made it to our car at last.

Venice in the rain

    Then we just told Gertrude the address of our hotel and we were on our way. It was very late by now - almost 11:30 pm. Everyone, especially the youngest member of our party, was pretty tired. Gertrude predicted that we'd make it to the hotel about ten minutes before midnight. . . . She was only about an hour off. Apparently Gertrude's maps for the Venice area have not been updated recently. She thought the exit for our hotel was about 2 km further up the road than it really was. And, once we passed the real exit we had to get on a toll road with the next nearest exit 17 km further on! Once we got turned around she again tried to take us on a route that there is no longer access to. We tried to do our own navigating and only managed to get driving further away from the hotel! Finally after driving practically all the way back to Venice and paying several more tolls, we managed to get off on the right exit and, once Gertrude figured out what we were doing, she led us the rest of the way.

     It was very nice to get into bed that night. = )