The Ham Nomads

1 Apr 2015. <IT> Venezia, Veneto —

Day 2 in Venice. We are well organised now. First up, we bought out ticket for the St Mark's Square museums as we were leaving yesterday, so we won't need to queue for the Doge's Palace, the Correr Museum, and so on. We also bought a two-day pass on the transport system — unlimited travel on the buses in and out of the city, and the vaporetti (the water buses) around the islands. Good value!

So, in we went. We walked to the main station and got on the vaporetto round to Piazza San Marco. This ride is an experience in itself, travelling the Grand Canal and seeing life on the water.

Coming from the vaporetto stop near St Mark's, we had to cross the little pedestrian bridge that passes in front of the Bridge of Sighs — what a press of people! There was already a queue formed for tickets into the Doge's Palace, but we walked straight round it and straight in! The Doge of Venice was one of the most powerful people in Europe in the middle ages and the Renaissance. This was an elected, not a hereditary position, so you usually got the best man for the job!

The Palazzo Ducale is a bit of a surprise — it was not only a residence, but also very much a palace of justice. The rooms had the functions of law courts, and meeting rooms for powerful committees. Just across a small canal is the prison (no longer used except for tourism), and between the two buildings is the famous "Bridge of Sighs", so named because of the plaintive sighs from the prisoners as they were brought across it to meet their fates.

You enter the palace via the so-called "Golden Staircase" and come into the Doge's residential apartments — subdued magnificence — and then you work your way round to the so-called Institutional Apartments (the law courts and meeting rooms), and the armoury (where you find the Armour of Henry IV of France and Navarre), and then across the Bridge of Sighs and into the prison.

This must be one of the slowest clocks...

Tiepolo — Neptune Offering Gifts to Venice

The Great Council Hall held about 1,000 electors of the Doge

"Paradise', by the Tintorettos (father & son) at the end of the hall

Crossing the Bridge of Sighs

Views (?) from the Bridge of Sighs

Inside the prison — damp and dark!

We toured the palace — it is very subdued in its decor, mainly dark browns, but the ceilings are full of magnificent paintings — almost impossible to photograph well, as they have been restored and given a shiny lacquer, and then they shine lights up onto them which puts glare spots into the middle of any photograph! Oh well, we enjoyed them at the time! And there was an exhibition of early maps and documents in a couple of the rooms.

Also in part of the Doge's Palace we found an exhibition of the paintings of the French naive painter, Henri Rousseau. As a self-taught artist, his paintings are very hard to classify. Many of them are frankly not particulatly thrilling, but others are stunning! In 1908, Pablo Picasso hosted a banquet in honour of Rousseau, and the poet Guillaume Apollinaire read out an ode to Rousseau which was recorded at the time and was being played as part of the exhibition! There were also works by painters influenced by Rousseau, including a couple by the Mexican artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera — if you haven't already seen Salma Hayek's 2002 movie 'Frida', it's worth looking for!

After the palace, we went into the square, and Warren went up the Campanile. Susie opted out, because she wasn't prepared to climb all those stairs. It wasn't until Warren came back down that he told her that the steps are closed, and you have to take the lift straight up to the top! It is from the campanile that Galileo demonstrated his new-fangled instrument, the telescope, to the Doge on 21 August 1609. Must say that the views are superb — but, as Susie found when we later went (via lift) up the campanile of San Giorgio Maggiore, the views there are just as good looking back across the Bacino di San Marco (St Mark's Basin) to the Doge's Palace.

We watched a huge cruise liner being towed into port before we gt onto the vaporetto again across to the island of San Giorgio Maggiore and its church. This church is so different from San Marco — the domes inside are unadorned, plain white. Many of the works of art hanging on the walls have been removed for restoration — the damp climate has allowed fungal attack which is just now being remedied. But we went up the bell tower for views back towards Piazza San Marco.

From here, back to the main island, and then the vaporetto back towards 'home'. On the way Suzie noticed a delightful sight — a gondolier had slowed right down, and then Suzie glimpsed the flash of a diamond — and yes, she obviously said 'Yes'! We got off at the Casino stop — we had decided to stop off at a supermarket to get some supplies on the way out. We miscalculated — we missed the supermarket by one stop! So we went back to the camping area empty handed — but tomorrow is another day!

Distance driven — today, nil; 16,786 miles ( 27,015 km )