The Sinking City

Well, over the weekend, we ended up going to attend the church in Vicenza. There were about 70 people there the day we attended because they have a combined service once a quarter with the Ghanian church. Usually there are about 40 Italians at the service. (It is good to know that Titus is helping out two different cultures and sets of people with the money people are using to support him over there.) Anyways, right after church, we went for a very brief walk (about 10 minutes) and we only made it across the street actually. We didn't want to walk too far because there was a protest going on that day against the American military base there in Vicenza. We thought it best to stay close to the church. So, right across the street, literally, was this gem. This is the very first indoor theater in Italy. The picture displays the courtyard and in the far building is the actual theater. We were mozying around looking at the statues when all of the sudden, Leann says "I need to go home." I was a little shocked because we had been there all of 7 minutes or so, but she explained that jet lag had really hit hard and she was nauseous from being so tired. So, I took a quick picture and we headed home for an afternoon nap.
We spent most of the day just resting up and didn't really do anything. We knew that the next day would be the most frantic of our trip - VENICE! Ok, well, we knew that Venice would not be frantic, but we wouldn't have an interpreter like we would for all the other cities we visited. We were nervous and tried to read up some on our Italian skills, which really didn't matter. Why? When we got there and I didn't know how to say something, I just always said "Parle Inglese?" and of course they all said, "Yes. How can I help you?" I couldn't believe it!!! There were several places in Italy that we heard people switch from English, to Italian, to German, and sometimes Spanish - all by 1 person!!! Now that quickly makes you not so confident in our education system here in America! Anyways, this is the view almost as soon as you walk out of the train station in Venice. On one side of the station it is all concrete and walkways and normal city stuff. Oh the other side of the station, you walk out to a miriad of ancient buildings and a canal system that just instantly takes your breath away. The boat that you see on the left side of the screen is the "bus" that you take up and down the main canal. We are standing on the dock looking south going towards St. Mark's Square.

While riding the bus down the canal to get to our bed and breakfast, we snapped a few shots of diffrerent alley's in the city. Almost always there would be a sign that told you whether you could enter it from this direction or not. I like this picture because of the window on the left (you don't see those too often in US architecture) and also for the trees on the right side. I thought that since it was build on the water, there really wouldn't be vegetation growing there. There wasn't a lot, but the parks that they did have were all very hardy.

We went through many things while in Venice including the Accademia (museum) and the Peggy Gugenheim museum as well - where we saw art by Picasso and others. (It was a highlight for both of us to see Picasso work in the place that he actually created it!!!) We walked some back streets and crossed over little bridges and big bridges and went down alleys that only 1 person could walk through at a time just exploring the city. It was surreal that you were in a foreign city and felt no fear or worry about not knowing where you were or how to get to where you were going. We simply just walked and walked until we found a sign or something we recognized and then started walking again. The picture here is off of the Accademia Bridge looking north over the Grand Canal. The bus is on the left at the dock and the other two or three boats are a taxi in the middle (much more expensive than the bus) and then a UPS boat on the right. We love to just look at all the buildings and wonder how they really got this all built!

While wandering through those alleys, there were little shops that you could go in for souveniers and stuff. You can see the carnival masks hanging onthe wall and being displayed behind Leann along with glass jewelry as Murano (an island by Venice) is close by and is famous for its glass blowing. Leann is actually holding a glass fountain pen that she wanted to get for someone for a souvenier. Right before or after this, we stopped at a bar (which means cafe in English) and grabbed our first lunch out on our own. Leann ordered because I was a pansy and she is better with languages than I am. We had a sandwich and also a dessert cake. The sandwich was great and the dessert was atrocious!! We threw it away after only one bite - luckily it was only $1.20. That is one thing good about Italy. They have tons of dessert things or brioches (croisants) that can be purchased very inexpensively so you can try a lot of different things while you are there.

Here is just a simple pictures of Gondolier drivers standing around asking people if they wanted a ride. I was waiting for Leann while she was shopping at this time and so I watched them for about 20 minutes (at least it seemed that long)! What was great about the wait was that I was able to watch them ask tourists if they wanted a ride and then see the faces they made and the comments they made after the tourist had walked by. Lets just say that sometimes they are very funny and sometimes not. Most of the time, the didn't do anything though but seek out the next person they would ask. At one point, one of them wasn't getting the responses that he wanted so he started singing as he was asking people if they wanted a ride. It was quite commical because he was very dramatic about it - the best description I give for it is what you would expect from an Italian man trying to woo a female to go on a date with him.

The alleyways for shopping are great. There are little shops everywhere and I mean little. The average shop in Venice was about 10 feet wide by maybe 15 feet deep and man did they cram stuff in there! This is me walking through the alley looking at the different shops that were around. We did a lot of glass shopping here and picked up many souveniers here for family and friends.

This is St. Mark's Square, the central square of Vencie - except it is not central at all. I guess a better discription would be the most popular square in Venice. This is where the government of Venice meets. The square is pretty big, but not the biggest we saw in Italy. On the left is the bell tower that shoots up into the sky. On the right forfront is Doge's palace. Doge was an over-the-top ruler that was all about impressing people, and he sure did us. There were many rooms in the palace that actually were bigger than our whole house!!! The painting on the walls that were hung wouldn't fit on a single wall in our house because most of them were about 15 feet tall. The ceilings had gold leaf designs and lots and lots of marble throughout the whole building.
The dome and th building right beside it to the left is the church there (St. Mark's). The church was impressive and worth it since it is free, but not too much to comment on. The building on the left center part of the picture is a clock tower and the entry in the bottom actually takes you into the alleyway system behing St. Mark's square - where all the shopping is.

This is a picture of the walkway coming into Doge's Palace. The marble is white and salmon color. We were surprised at how much color there was in everything there. You would think that for being so old, the colors would have faded. That is not the case. Oh, a not about the picture above - notice all the people on the right? They are feeding the pigeons. THIS IS STUPID! Ok, everyone likes to feed the birds, but pigeons are 1 - nasty, 2 - the most infested species of birds on the planet, and 3 - not afraid to come up behind you and steal your bread off your sandwich that is sitting by your hip. THE WHOLE TOP BUN!!! So, watch your food when you go!

Here is the view right by our B & B on the little bridge to go over the canal. The yellow building on the right and closest to you is the B&B. It was lovely and fine. We liked it, but it was way too cold. Actually, we were cold almost the whole time in Italy because they didn't turn on the heat until 10 p.m. or so. So, you were frozen all day in the cold buildings with no carpet and didn't get warm until about midnight everyday! Oh well, that was a simple price to pay. This was one of the last sights that we got to see when we were leaving Venice.