EXPLORING VENICE

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

It’s a beautiful day in Venice…the sun comes in and out of the fog. Jim has gone to see the Doge Palace (has the Bridge of Sighs in the prison part of the tour) and I am staying with Barbara in her room. We enjoyed a fabulous breakfast in our hotel…lots of German’s use this hotel and it was a large German style meal. Barbara needed some additional rest….and I enjoyed Venice with daughter Jennifer in 2006 without Jim so I elected to keep Barbara Company. We have the windows open, the Internet on and I’m listening to the gondoliers go down the canal below her window. Several have had two couples, the oarsman, an accordion player and a singer! Fabulous…we could hear them for nearly five minutes…such a glorious … and for those in the boat…expensive experience. The two boats stationed at the little bridge down below the window have not moved…but other boats that have picked up passengers elsewhere are constantly moving down our canal. The sights and sounds are almost better than walking the miniature streets….Romantic Venice is coming to us! I suggested to Jim that he also take the elevator to the top of St. Mark’s tower while he is out this morning. And…the clock tower that he has never seen without scrim hiding the renovations…has been finished since before I was here in 2006. So he should have a great little morning tour.

The view from our terrace outside of our room this morning was great. We can see the dome of a church and the domes of St. Mark’s Cathedral plus the bell tower! Yes, it really is a room with a special view. Funny story…last night when I was trying to plug in to charge the camera and computer; I searched behind all of the furniture and finally found one outlet open where the T.V. and Mini Bar were plugged into the wall. The bedside lamps are hardwired into the wall. But…my plug would not go into the socket. Called downstairs and asked where the electrical outlets were….one in the bathroom is only good for electric razors. They sent the bellhop who did the same search I did and found one behind the bedside table on the right side of the bed. But…when I showed him my plug…won’t work he said. At the desk I may put a deposit on an adapter plug that will fit between the wall and my plug. Finally, I had electricity! Traveling is full of tricky little problems and it’s always fun when you solve them!

Jim returned about 2 pm after a wonderful morning tour of the Doge Palace and wandering around San Marcos Square to the old haunts from previous trips. I decided to take a two hour walk by myself; my first stop was to find a closer Vaporetto Bus Stop for tomorrow’s trip to the train station. I found one; only one bridge to cross and a short walk….shorter than where we arrived at San Marcos. This stop is S. M. del Giglio….the Kette Hotel is located between the two stops. No ticket booths so we’ll have to purchase tickets elsewhere today. For a future trip there is a Best Western Hotel right at this stop.

Then I started following the signs to the Rialto Bridge…the stone double sided bridge with shops on the bridge. Suddenly I heard classical music coming from a church…I peeked inside and saw a display of many violins, cellos and other instruments; and it said free admission. I knew that Jim would love this so hurried back to the Hotel and took them back with me. Enjoyed the display and actually purchased tickets for a live concert of music by Vivaldi, Mozart and Sarasate. It starts at 8:30 pm so we probably will leave at the intermission so that we can get a good night’s sleep for our trip tomorrow.

Will tell you about our concert tomorrow after we arrive in Florence….caio