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We got up about 8 and had breakfast. I can tell Carl is getting tired. It must be getting close to time to return home.
The three photos above were taken on our way to San Marco Square. The left two photos are canals. The right photo is a detail of the side of San Marco Basilica.
We started out walking to San Marco Square, planning to ride the elevator to the top of the Campanile, the bell tower in the square. However, there are three cruise ships in port and the square is very, very crowded. The line for the bell tower, normally extremely short, stretches across the square.
So, we took the vaporetto to San Giorgio, which is just across the Lagune and is almost deserted. It's a beautiful, peaceful church. We did have to wait about five minutes in line for its elevator to the top of its bell tower, but that's mainly because it only holds about four people at a time, counting the elevator operator! The views from the top are just as lovely as I remembered. We stayed up there for about half an hour.
The photo on the left above shows San Giorgio from the vicinity of San Marco Square. The two photos on the right show views of the Lagune from the bell tower. We had storms threatening that morning.
The photos above were taken from San Giorgio's bell tower. The photo on the left shows San Marco Square with the Campanile and the Doge's Palace. The domes of San Marco Basilica are just visible over the Doge's Palace. The center photo shows some of the traffic in this busy Lagune. The photo on the right is the marina near San Giorgio.
Unfortunately, noon caught us in the bell tower and the bells rang. The bells were just a few feet overhead. First, they rang twelve times to mark the hour. Then they rang 85 times more - yes, I counted... The photo to the right shows the bell ringing. It's almost possible to take a photo straight up while keeping one's fingers firmly in one's ears. Almost.
We took the next elevator down. Just before the elevator door closed, the operator leaned out to warn the remaining tourists that the bells would ring again in about ten minutes. Just kidding... Carl said "What?", so the operator repeated it. Carl repeated "What?" This time, the operator got it and laughed.
Instead of heading straight back to the vaporetto stop, we spent some time wandering the lovely marina that's located on this island. It's just a completely different feel from the rest of the city.
The two photos above were taken in the marina. The one on the left shows some of the sailboats kept in this marina. The photo on the right has an interesting name (The Sweet Life) and has a collection of bicycles on the deck!
The photo on the left above is one of the lampposts in front of San Giorgio. The center photo is the cloister of San Giorgio. The photo on the right is the front of San Giorgio, with a tourist attempting to fit the whole facade into his small camera.
We finally reboarded the vaporetto, riding it to its next stop (Zatelli) for lunch. This is a residential district and we had lunch at another restaurant where no one spoke English. We had ravioli and gnocchi. Both were fantastic. And we washed them down with a half liter of house red wine. Absolutely delicious.
We reboarded the vaporetto and rode to the Zateria stop to see a working gondola shop. Nothing was going on, however, as we were there during the afternoon siesta. We found our way back to the hotel from there with just one consultation of the map! We're learning our way around.
On our way back to the hotel, we crossed over the Accademia Bridge. The photo on the left above is a view of the Grand Canal from this bridge. The photo on the left has some tourists filling one gondola after having filled another to capacity.
On the way, we stopped to watch a street puppeteer. She was really good. Her puppet was quite a dancer. You can see the puppet and his accompaniment (boom box) in this photo. And we stopped at a mask shop to buy Kelly's birthday and Christmas presents. One mask, the one for her birthday, was of Harry Potter. A photo of it can be seen on the page for May 28. I didn't get a photo of the Christmas one. It's a black mask with Swarkovski crystals on it. Beautiful!
The two photos above show some more of the masks we spotted today.
The photos above are some additional store displays of Murano glass. The photo on the left has a bicycle built for two clowns - one facing each direction. The center photo has a faucet with a drop of "water" with a fish in it. The photo on the right has a field of red tulips.
So, we made our way back to the hotel for showers, downloading of images, and dinner reservations at a fancy Lagune front restaurant that the other front desk clerk recommended.
Oh, we asked the morning clerk if anyone swam in the canals. He said he'd rather go to war than voluntarily swim in the canals, and he's a native Venetian!
We got a phone call from the front desk. The fancy restaurant was closed on Tuesdays. So, we made reservations at the local trattoria instead. The food there was good.
Before dinner, we sat at canal side with drinks and people watched. It was entertaining.
Dinner was very good. The main course was sea bass, which they deboned at the table. And they did a very good job of it. Dessert was very good, also. Carl had the tiramasu and I had a chocolate mousse.
After dinner, we strolled back to the hotel and started packing for our trip home. We'll have to save the gondola ride for another trip. Each day we thought about going for a ride, either we were too tired to find one, it was raining, or the timing just didn't work out. Next trip!