May 18 and 19 May 20 May 21 May 22 May 23 May 24 May 25 May 26 May 27 May 28 May 29 May 30 May 31 June 1 June 2 June 3	Saturday 6/1/02 We met with Bill at 5:30 and took the water bus to the Rialto Bridge. We did some shooting off the bridge, then wandered in that area for a while. I hadn’t been on that side of the Grand Canal much yet, so I said I’d stick in that area. The others were planning to wander a different area. However, when I grabbed the water bus to move down closer to the Academia, which is more residential than the commercial area I was in, I wound up on the same bus the rest were on! They thought I had a good idea and we all wound up wandering that area. We still got separated, however. I was tired, so I didn’t stay out very long, soon returning by water bus to the hotel and breakfast. Shirley and Bill walked in about the same time I did. They had walked back from that area, leaving before Judy or I did. Judy showed up shortly thereafter. The three photos above were taken today, but exact locations have long been forgotten. The photo on the left shows an old boat reflected in a canal along with the building behind it. The center photo shows a gondola moored at the colorful mooring poles sprinkled around the city. The photo on the right is one of the many canals - this one has sidewalks along both sides. We met Laura at 10. Bill went off to catch the Matisse and Picasso showing and the rest of us continued on our tour. He wound up not getting into the show as the lines were too long. Instead, he took the long way back, then took a nap! The rest of us hopped a water bus to an area beyond and behind Santa Maria della Salute, in the vicinity of where we had left off shooting that morning. While we were waiting for the water bus, we spotted this ship (right) coming into the waterways. It’s a large cruise ship under sail! It was the largest sailing vessel I’ve ever seen. The boat in front of it is a water bus (not ours, fortunately). We walked in that area most of the morning. On the way, we passed a gondola repair shop (photo to the left). The gondolas look different out of the water. I hadn’t realized that they are built lopsided - partially to offset the weight of the gondolier and partially so that the rowing doesn’t make them go in circles. If you sight along the two upswept parts of the gondola, you’ll see that they’re off center. The decorative piece on the bow of the gondola is symbolic of the city. The large cap portion represents the Doge’s cap. Below that are six “teeth” pointing forward, representing the six sections of Venice. There’s another pointing backward, which represents Lido, the section across the lagoon from the rest of Venice. And the graceful S-shaped swoop of the prow represents the Grand Canal. The weekend was more relaxed around the city. The photo on the right above shows a statue on top of a wall around a private garden. The center photo shows a sign detailing the restoration of the Theatre de Fenice. The photo on the left shows a man and his dog out for a ride. Our morning walk would take us by other sights, including the new prison. It was built in the 1950's, so it really is new. We also passed the church of San Nicolo dei Mendicoli, which was being restored. It’s quite quaint. And the Palazzo Ariani, which has a “lacy” facade. While walking, we spotted another produce boat. This man was selling his wares directly off the boat. the photo on the left shows the boat moored to the side of the canal. The photo on the right shows some of his wares. These two photos show some of the other scenes we spotted today. The photo on the left shows a gate to a private courtyard, accessed directly off the canal. The photo on the right shows some of the windows of the city with nice flower boxes and shutters. We finally wound up in the Campo Santa Marguerite at a café for lunch. It’s one of the larger squares in the city. I had tortellini with a basil and shrimp sauce. Yum! After lunch, we walked back to the Grand Canal to catch another water bus. This water bus would take us to the island of San Giorgio where there is a lovely church. We could see it easily from the street that runs by our hotel. We’d been taking pictures of the outside of it for days. It’s very interesting inside. It has an almost Classical Greek look to it and is light and airy inside. Lots of mosaic tile, including on the floor. The floor by the altar is one of those triomphe l’oeil floors that made me dizzy looking at it. It felt three dimensional. Their bell tower also has an elevator to the top. Much smaller than the one in the Campanile, but the tower is lower, also. There are several nice views from here, including the leaning tower on Burano. We spent some time shooting here before heading back to the hotel to rest a little. These photos were taken from this bell tower. The photo on the left looks back to San Marco Square while the photo on the right looks down the Grand Canal. Well, some of us rested. Judy and I went over to the Doge’s Palace to pick up tickets for later. The others had taken along their larger cameras the other night when we were there, but Judy and I had taken the “no photos inside” warning literally and had left ours behind. Then Judy went back to the exchange. I was going to go into San Marco, but the line was long and barely moving. I wound up going to the mask shop instead and picking up the two masks that I had selected. They will ship them to me for just 50 Euros extra. Sounded great to me! One less thing to wrestle on the plane. (They showed up in Kingsport on the 13th ). I returned to the room for a much needed shower (it was hot today), then met Judy to return to the Doge’s Palace. The lighting conditions were very nice. We didn’t take in the full tour, just the outer portion, where cameras are allowed. We had a good time there. The photo to the left was taken at this time. It shows the colonade of the second floor of the Palace and the wonderful patterns the columns make. From there, we walked to a spot that we had seen from one of the water buses. One of the things Bill wanted us all to do was get on a water bus headed towards the hotel from the area of the Rialto Bridge near sunset to get some shots that can’t be gotten from land. Never made it. However, this spot gave us a vantage point of the Santa Maria della Salute church that rivals the view from the water bus. And a lot sturdier platform! We just had to go down a small alleyway covered with construction scaffolding to get there! We got several shots there (Santa Maria della Salute with a gondolier to the left), then realized that the hotel just next door was a major gondola pick-up and drop-off point. I shot nearly a roll of film on the gondoliers! One of these photos appears to the right. It was a nice spot. Highly recommended. I went back to the hotel and rearranged camera bags for tomorrow’s shooting. I’m very tired. My notes for that evening say “As I write this, I’m having trouble focusing. Will I make it through dinner?” The air conditioning was off again. We decided to resign ourselves to having the windows open all night for the rest of the trip. Luckily, the external lighting (very bright) for the police station across the way misses my head by six inches.... I met the rest of the women (no Bill this evening) about 7 for dinner at a decent hour for a change. We wandered around for a while before finding a nice sidewalk café with decent prices. It was only a block off Piazza San Marco. Usually prices go up the closer you get to San Marco... It was a nice meal. I had one of their “tourist menus”, which is a fixed price meal. I would have gotten most of the stuff on this menu anyway, but it was less if you selected it this way. I had shrimp in lemon and oil (shrimp cocktail without the cocktail sauce), sea bass (lots of bones and not much meat for the size fish, but adequate and tasty), salad, and fruit cocktail (straight out of the can). And three of us shared a very nice (but expensive) bottle of wine. It was the most expensive bottle we’ve had the entire trip - at least, the most expensive one we’ve had to pay for.... It was a Cabernet franc. Very nice. I went back to the hotel and crashed after dinner. I turned my light out at 9:30.... We left the windows open, but closed the shutters about half way, which cut some of the street noise, but not the police light. And that cat was still in heat!!!! Next...