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Thursday 5/30/02
We got up about 4:15 and met in the lobby at 4:45. I had had a restless night, discovering that the Campanile rings its bells at midnight and 7 am - 96 bongs each time!
We wandered the immediate area for a couple of hours taking pictures of this and that. We found lots of interesting locations.
The three photos above were taken in the predawn hours this morning. The photo on the left shows a gondola pier, gondolas, and San Giorgio across the lagune. The center photo catches some of the up and down motion of the waves as they rocked the gondolas. San Giorgio is again in the background. The photo on the right shows a rare reflection in Piazza San Marco that was caused by people cleanng the piazza rather than flooding. The pillar holds a statue to San Marco, the patron saint of Venice and San Giorgio is visible in the background with dawn's early light lighting it up.
The three photos above were also taken on this early morning walk around Venice. The photos on the left and center show the arches along the side of the Doge's Palace and it's elaborately tiled floor. The photo on the righr shows Ponte della Paglia with the waterfront and Santa Maria della Salute in the distance. These lampposts are found all over the town.
Just behind Piazza San Marco is this gondola parking lot (the three photos above), a pool where many of the city's gondolas are left for the night. It's a fascinating place. The photo on the left is my favorite from this area.
I stopped about 8:15 and returned to the hotel for breakfast. Some of the others were already eating and the rest came in shortly after I did.
Unlike Florence and Tuscany, this was a full breakfast buffet, complete with scrambled eggs, lots of fruit, a wide selection of bread, rolls, and pastries, juices, and good tea. The coffee left a lot to be desired. I watched Judy pour hers one day and I’ve seen thinner tar.... It was definitely thick.
The three photos above were also taken this morning. The photo on the left shows the Campanile (bell tower for San Marco) rising above a garden along the waterfront. The center photo shows a nice reflection in one of the many canals. The photo on the right was taken from one of the many bridges in Venice because I liked the reflection.
We joined Laura about 10 for our day's meanderings. First we walked past the Theatre de Fenice, which was under construction from a fire which destroyed it in 1996. It’s a massive rebuilding project. The scaffolding that surrounds it (photo to the right) is quite impressive, with brass fittings to hold the metal poles in place.
Then we went to the nearby Campo San Angelo. Campo literally means field. This is a working square in the town, as opposed to the more formal (or touristy) piazzas.
Most of the squares had a well in the middle of them. Actually, it’s more a cistern than a well, since the groundwater in Venice is quite brackish. The paved squares have small holes in the four corners which are slightly depressed from the rest of the square. Rainwater would flow to those holes which would then channel the water to the “well”. There’s even two of these inside the Doge’s Palace. Judy and I discovered the same set of holes there when we went back later.
From the Campo San Angelo, we could see a leaning bell tower. Venice has several of them, some leaning more than others. Some leaning even more than the famous tower in Pisa! The one visible from this square was Santo Stefano’s bell tower.
Then we went down a few more twisty streets to the Contarini Palazzo. There we found the famous Snail Staircase (right and left), a circular external staircase built to impress guests. The Contarini’s name was expanded to Contarini del Bovolo - bovolo means snail.
Then we wound up on the Grand Canal near City Hall to find that the gondoliers were on strike and protesting in front of City Hall. They were protesting the unlicensed street vendors, saying that they were taking business away from the gondoliers by beguiling the tourists. The gondoliers stayed on strike through the next day, but were back on the job for the weekend - it was an Italian holiday and no one wanted to miss the extra tourists that would be arriving...
So we walked to the Rialto Bridge to see if we could get a better view of the gondola barricade (photo to the right above). It showed the mass of gondolas, but missed all the excitement and gesticulations that were evident directly in front of the City Hall.
We continued on to the Rialto Market, which is a daily event there. They have an extensive fish market, featuring varieties that I couldn’t identify in conditions that were unbelievable. Eels skinned, but otherwise intact. Cuddlefish, which looked like squids without tentacles. Small octopuses displayed upside down so you could see the tentacles better. Crabs and shrimp that were still moving. Very interesting place.
Associated with this is a produce market and a tourist type market. We played there for a little over an hour before meeting for lunch. I picked up another pin - a Venetian mask - and a matching pair of earrings. It was fun mingling with the people.
The three photos above were taken at the Rialto Market. The photo on the left shows the octopi on display. the center photo shows some assorted produce, while the photo on the right is a basket of peppers.
The two photos above show more produce for sale at the Rialto Market. The photo on the left is tomatoes and the one on the right features eggplant.
Lunch was at a bar near the market. Judy and I stuck to appetizers since it was so hot. Hers looked better than mine! I had some sort of marinated (in lemon juice) zucchini strips with a fancy tomato. It looked good, so I took a picture of it (left)! Tasted like dill pickles and I’m not very fond of dill pickles. But I ate it all!
Betsy joined us at the table, but only ordered water, then complained because they wanted to charge her a cover charge. Laura decided Betsy was very rude. I tend to agree. Betsy also wanted to ask them if they had a knife she could borrow so she could peel the apple she bought in the market. Really! You don’t do that, even in the States! She was in a pissy mood that day. Shirley stood at the end of the table throughout the meal - she wasn’t hungry. By standing, she avoided the cover charge... We didn’t know what to do with either of them!!!
While we were eating, we spotted a camera crew. We had seen them earlier in the day and had commented on the heavy tripod they were lugging around. It went with the commercial sized video camera they were toting. They came over to the café we were sitting outside of and mentioned that they wished they could make do with the lighter tripods we had. They were an Amsterdam crew doing a special for the Discovery channel about taxis around the world. It’s supposed to air sometime in July. We’ll have to watch for it.
We hopped the water bus back to the hotel. That’s an interesting experience. Similar to catching a subway in other cities - it pulls in, the gate opens, people stream off, then people stream on. But on the water. We had passes good for the length of time we were here. You don’t have to show them as you board or have them validated by anyone or anything. However, you’d better produce a valid one when the inspector comes around. Otherwise, it’s a 23 Euro fine, plus the price of the ticket.
I encountered only one inspector the entire time I was in Venice, but Bill got on four or five water buses that had inspectors aboard. He watched one tourist try to talk his way out of the fine, saying that his wife had the tickets. They didn’t accept his story. They collected the fine.
Bill had left us about the time we got to the market - he had torn a contact lens and that eye was beginning to get uncomfortable, so he went back to the hotel to change it. Shirley, of course, complained bitterly several times about how Bill kept skipping out on us in Venice. Once she got an idea into her head, no one could shake it. It’s a shame. She did have some nice qualities, if you dug deep enough...
We returned to the hotel and said goodbye to Laura for today. I puttered around the room for a while, shower, shampoo, laundry, read a little, rested a little.
We all got together about 5 for a quick supper at Roberto’s again. This time, I had ravioli with ham and a cheese sauce and a fruit salad. Decent fruit salad. And the ravioli was yummy. This was just the four of us women. We were to meet Bill in our lobby at 6. He was waiting for us when we walked in, so we scooted upstairs to grab our camera gear.
We went in different directions. Bill and Shirley went to the Campanile to see if they could climb to the top. They were pleasantly surprised to find that there’s an elevator to the top and they got some good shoots there.
Judy, Betsy, and I headed down the main causeway towards the park we had spotted. We were shooting there when the bells in the Campanile began to chime again. Bill and Shirley were right next to the bells when they rang!!! Very loud.
I wandered the back alleys until about 8:15 when I grabbed a gelato and crashed for the evening. The photos to the left and right are two of the canal scenes I found this evening. We actually got the air conditioner to work this evening. The only evening that we did!