Three Nights in a Sinking City

Yikes; I must get caught up. It's about nine or ten towns since the last update - that's what staying little coastal towns will do to your Internet access, I suppose.
In any case, we pick up the story in Venice. City of Canals. The Sinking City. That's all the nicknames I know for it. And I made the last one up. I left off arriving at my hotel after wandering the streets, with, alas, no Venetian cutey patootie awaiting my arrival. On the other hand, that means that any pictures would be rated PG13 (at the very least). And I have finally found an Internet joint that I can get my pictures uploaded, so for your viewing pleasure: a photo from my camera:

Get it? That's a bit of Italian humour there..."camera" means "room", and it's from my "camera"...oh, forget it. Thank goodness for wine and collapsicable cups.
It's going to be two nights, and a full day and a bit, so the next morning, I treat myself to a little extra sleep, which means I'm up on the streets at about 9am. Holy cow. It's...sunny! Clear clear skies above, which makes for less-than-drab pictures...

No, we weren't being nuked at the instant the picture was taken; I had yet to adjust the exposure to take into account that big shiny thing up there.

That above shot is San Marcos square, which in reality looks more like this:

My camera (room) is about three 'blocks' (canals) behind that big, church-like structure. A stone's throw from the famous Bridge of Sighs (sigh) and attached to the Doge's Palace. The Doge was the figurehead of the Venetian aristocracy/government back in the days. They had no formal governing documents, just this group of rich guys that ran things through discussion for centuries, rather succesfully, at that. Anywho, the head honcho is the Doge. Elected for life, the guy:

• doesn't make any decisions
• can't leave the building without special accompaniment
• can't leave the city without permission, and only for a couple days at most

The Doge was essentially a position to show off the republic's wealth and power. Visiting emmissaries had to wind their way though the actual working (senate) areas of the palace to meet the Doge, and were wowed along the way with art, wealth, an armoury, etc etc etc. Bad guys got a similar tour, to the courts were, after sentencing, would cross a canal to the prisons over the afore-mentioned Bridge of Sighs (sigh):

The story is that the prisoners would get their last view of Venice before being locked up in the pokey as they crossed the bridge, hence the sighs (sigh).

So, I wind my way around the various rooms of priceless treasures and maps and gold and stuff, following the roped off directions. I ended up next to a young lady from Wales. Together we toured through the jails. But it ends up the same; I've forgotten her name, so there will be no juicy details. But, it was good to actually chat using more than single syllables, and without mucho hand-waving (that always gets the point across when speaking to someone of another language).

Oh, what else did I see in Venice...St Mark's Basilica (that church-like building in the photo above). Wow. Look that one up online for some interesting interiors. Checked out a couple other curches and the Accademia art gallery; none of which allow photos inside, so all I have are my jumbled memories of lots of pictures of the Madonna (no, not that one; I'm certain the Pope would disapprove). The Madonna and Child. There must be a billion paintings of those two, with various saints, apostles, kings, etc making appearances. Man, that was some book tour, I suppose.

Oh, what else to say about Venice? I continued my fill of cappuccios, gelati (one gelato, two gelati?), panini (I am buying a panani cooker if I come home), etc. Whilst wandering around one night I saw a local rock band unloading for a gig somewhere; drums, amps etc all being offloaded from a gondola. I've done some interesting gigs in my day, but nothing like that...

Spent one happy evening reading more of the Michaelangelo "Agony and the Ecstacy" novel while doing laundry. It was somewhat overdue. Another night with my Rick Steve's book to plan the next installment, a collapsical cup of vino rosso, then up early for the trip to Padua and Ravenna...

So, early to rise the next morning, and onto the slow #1 vaporetto back to the train station. Snapping madly at every building on the way back. But my favorite had to be the boat I would hope to one day pilot myself...

OK, you can't see it at that resolution: it's the Guiness Draft deliver boat! In lieu of that, here's a more traditional "farewell to Venice" shot...