Acqua Alta

Today the weather in Venice was sunny and perfectly lovely; what a change from yesterday! We were actually able to see our charming our B&B, which is housed in a 500 year old palazzo behind Piazza San Marco.

Here is a taste of the chiming of the bells from our window.
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First thing this morning we headed straight for St. Mark’s Basilica. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a lot of time to explore since we had a busy day planned, which was made even busier by the change in plans yesterday. Having been to the basilica before I knew that I wanted to show Russ the San Marco Museum that is housed upstairs and puts you in touching distance of the incredible mosaics that cover the ceiling. They are breathtaking! (Sadly no photos allowed within the basilica.) The Museum also has a balcony that overlooks Piazza San Marco.

After this quick turn around the basilica we hurried over to the Doge’s Palace for the Secret Itineraries tour which takes you through the palace into rooms that are not open to the public, including the secret archives room, the torture room, and Casanova’s prison cells. We also viewed the attic where the architect who designed the Rialto Bridge also designed a series of trusses capable of spanning the 175ft x 80ft Hall of the Grand Council, as well as walls that would support the heavy frames of the grand works of art that hang in the hall. At the end of the tour we were able to view the other rooms of the palace, including the hall of the Grand Council which houses Tintoretto’s Paradise, the largest oil painting in the world.

We then crossed the bridge of sighs into the prisons. I can’t say why I really wanted to see and cross the bridge. Maybe because it was undergoing renovation the last time I was in Venice or maybe just because it has been romanticized. In any case, it was neat to see the prisons and the carvings made in the cells by the prisoners. It was also fun to look back out at all of the ogling and photo-taking tourists.

We left the palace in search of lunch and discovered that there was “acqua alta” on the Piazza. This is a phenomenon that occurs when the tide and south wind cause an increased flow of water into the lagoon, which invades the city. This phenomenon usually happens in winter, and from what I’ve read, sometimes only every three years, so it was a fun experience to be present when it happened.

After a quick bite to eat we hopped onto the vaporetto to the Island of Murano, known for its Glass making. We wandered around the canals a bit, bought a couple cans of our favorite lemon soda, and visited the Glass Museum. Look at this chandelier!

We found our way back to the vaporetto and took it out to the island of Burano. This colorful, village-like island is known for lace making. We visited the Lace Museum, which traces the island’s lace heritage, and wandered around the canals and lace shops.

We were getting quite hungry by this time and most of the restaurants were closed so we took the vaporetto back to Venice and stopped for dinner at Taverna La Corte. We had Macaroni al ragu made with fresh macaroni pasta noodles and it was seriously the best pasta we had ever eaten!

Tomorrow we head to Florence. Wish us luck; the forecast says rain.

Gelato and lemon soda fix all problems

Today we took the train to Venice and learned that the city built in a lagoon cannot handle water when it comes from the sky. By the time we exited the station a pretty steady rain was coming down and all of the sidewalks became giant puddles, many ankle deep, which my shoes sadly learned the hard way. The Vaporetti (water buses) were inundated with people due to the rain and the enclosed waiting areas became people traps so that you could not move or wait for the correct Vaporetto line to come along; instead you were shoved onto whichever boat arrived when you were toward the front of the mob. This happened to us twice, and twice it was the wrong line. Finally on the third try we ended up on the line that was going the roundabout (and, therefore, less crowded) route to our hotel.

After a walk through the back streets of Venice to our hotel, during which we and our luggage were further soaked, we finally arrived at our hotel two hours after hour intended arrival time. This, plus the weather, led us to decide to scrap our plans to head out to the islands of Murano and Burano this afternoon. Instead, we ate a late lunch at a nearby restaurant that our hotel recommended, Rosso Pomodoro. The service was super slow and standoff-ish, but once our pizza arrived it was absolutely delicious. We washed it down with lemon soda, which has quickly become our favorite drink. And once I got the waitress to stop by our table for a second and let me ask her something in Italian, she became much friendlier. Score: 1 for my tiny bit of Italian language knowledge!

We then enjoyed our first gelato of the trip at Suso, a place that was highly recommended by a colleague of mine and by our hotel. Russ got mint chocolate and I got tiramisu. It was delicious!

Feeling much better we decided to visit some of the museums we had planned to see tomorrow: the Ca’ Rezzonico (museum of 18th century Venice) and the Galleria dell’Accademia. The weather cleared up for a little bit as well, which was nice.

Thoroughly exhausted by this point, we headed back to our hotel, grabbed a bit to eat nearby (with more lemon soda, of course!) and called it a night. Here’s hoping for better weather tomorrow!

And we're off!

It is time again to break out the little red suitcase and head on an adventure, this time through Italy!

After a long day of traveling, which included a rain delay at JFK,

 we finally made it to Milan! (Needle, Thread and Knot sculpture by Claes Oldenburg speaking to my love of sewing.)

The day's delays put us a couple hours behind our plan, but we got settled into our hotel and then headed out to explore. First stop was the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. This beautiful iron-and-glass structure was built during the time of the Eiffel tour and celebrated the establishment of Italy as a country.

 On the floor are patriotic mosaics. One, depicting a bull for the city of Torino, has developed a tradition in which people spin around (twice, clockwise according to locals) on the bull's testicles for good luck. We observed quite a few participants in the tradition, and we can see why this particular mosaic ends up being replaced every couple years.

From here we visited the Duomo, the fourth largest church in Europe, made from pink Candoglia marble. Construction on the Duomo lasted from 1386 to 1810, and even though the Renaissance had begun during this time, the builders kept the Gothic style with its pointed arches and spires.

 We also encountered someone I can only describe as crazy, because no one in their right mind would try to have pigeons land on them for a photo. She succeeded, by the way...

Inside, we were shocked to learn that the elaborately carved ceilings are actually painted, which saved money!

We were then able to take a trip up to the roof of the Duomo. What a view!

It was such a neat experience to be up close and able to walk on top of such an incredible building. It was also kind of crazy to see how many people were up there.

We were pretty exhausted by this point so we ate dinner, treated ourselves to the first tiramisu of the trip, and called it an early night. Tomorrow morning we're off to Venice!