Florence to Venice: August 20, 2006

We are finally in Venice, our last stop, and it's truly wonderful. I love Venice! I wish I could show this place to all of you. Venice is like a lovely rich old lady, past her prime but still charming in her aging beauty.

This morning we woke up in Florence and caught the bus to church in the Florence 1st Branch. We had a great time there, as lots of missionaries made an effort to translate for us and we even had an English-speaking Sunday School. For Sacrament there was a closed circuit camera on the speaker, and we sat in the foyer with a TV screen and the missionaries translated. Next year the Florence Branch is getting a new building.

After church we took the bus back to the hotel and picked up our suitcases. We got another bus for the train station. Lunch in McDonald's across from the station was kind of sleazy because of the customers. We found a better clientele at the other McDonald's inside the train station. Maybe people with money for a ticket are richer than those who just hang out near the station?

Our train was late (unusual for Europe), and we almost got on the wrong train, but figured it out at the last minute and ran to the right one. The high-speed Eurostar from Florence to Venice takes 2 hours 40 minutes and makes several stops.

In Venice, we got 3-day boat transport passes, and promptly got on the right boat going the wrong direction! AARGH! It took us the long way around, so Heidi didn't get the lovely introduction to Venice, coming up the Grand Canal. Instead, she got the gritty view by all the industrial warehouses on the back side, and it took forever!

When we finally got to our stop, it took us a few minutes to find our hotel. It's actually only a block behind the most famous spots in Venice: St Mark's Square and the Doge's Palace. What a great location! But wait, the lady said they were full, so they were putting us in another building, "very close." So we followed her a couple of blocks and ended up in this alley that was truly only about 6 feet wide but 40 feet high. (That's the picture at left.) She led us through an odd door with the knob in the middle, and then into a dark and musty passageway. The floor was uneven, and there were no windows. It was completely black, so she turned on lights all the way. At the end of the passage she started up stairs that went up 10 steps and turned, up again, turned another way, down a little hall, and up some more. The ceiling was peeling and the walls were so bad they had cloth stapled to cover them. I was really starting to wonder what we got ourselves into! She unlocked another door (which she explained you have to pull toward you and then push,) and then down a hall and unlocked another door. (Three different keys, of course.) Here was our room.

Surprise! It was a whole apartment! It had an entryway, bathroom, completely equipped kitchen with dining table and chairs, and a very large bedroom, bigger than my room at home. The ceilings were at least 15 feet up there, with exposed beams. Tall windows with tiny balconies opened onto a little canal below, and there were gondolas going up and down the canal! We were thrilled! Turns out it's adjacent to the owner's apartment, and they only use it for overflow. In the picture you can see Heidi leaning out one window, with the canal and gondolas and little arched bridge below. We really lucked out!

Heidi and I decided to take a walk around St Mark's Square. We found the bell tower was still open, so we went up. Best bell tower in all of Europe, it's the only one with an elevator! The original fell down in 1905, so they rebuilt it to look exactly the same, but with an elevator. The light was golden and the air was clear, and you could see all over Venice and out to the little islands and it was glorious. We talked to lots of people on the top, including a couple from New York on their honeymoon.

I walked Heidi across town, through the back alleys to the Rialto Bridge. That's the most famous bridge in Venice. You can see it on my website, it's right at the top of the home page in the collage and it's the white bridge. Anyway, we bought ice cream and stood on the bridge and ate it and watched all the people. The ice cream was melting so fast Heidi said it was the most work she's ever had with an ice cream cone!

I think she really likes it here, because she described her ideal proposal of marriage: the guy brings her to Venice and takes her on a gondola ride ($80) and they go down some canal where there are no people, and when they get back home he proposes . . . Sounds romantic, no?

We took the water shuttle back to St Marks' square and our hotel. This internet place is right around the corner, behind the cathedral. The price is awful at 4.50 Euros for and hour for Heidi (student rate) and 7.50 for me, but we paid it anyway.

I LOVE THIS PLACE! We have only 2 more days, and we are home. After three weeks in London, Paris, and Italy, we are both looking forward to being home.

Venice: August 21, 2006

Today was splendid! It was our last full day in Venice; we are coming home tomorrow.

We did not even get to breakfast until 9:30, which put us at the Doge's Palace at 10:00 (in the thick of the Japanese tour groups).

We wandered all over the pink and white Ventian Gothic palace by the water. It's large and ornate, a combination of richly decorated governmental chambers and private apartments for the Doge. The Doge was a ruler elected for life, and he had great power. There's a "Golden Stairway" leading up to the Senate rooms and the Doge's apartments, so called because the very fancy ceiling is decorated with 24 karat gold! The power of the position of Venice as "Queen of the Seas" during the 1400-1700's was truly amazing. We even walked over the "Bridge of Sighs" and down into the prisons.

Next we scooted into St. Mark's Basilica. It was built several times, the most recent being 800 years ago. Instead of paintings or frescoes, the whole interior is covered with mosaics made of 1\4 inch glass squares. The entire background is gold, which means each square (and there are millions) is 2 layers of glass with a thin layer of gold leaf sandwiched in between. We got there just before the lights turned on for half an hour. When it's lit, it glows with an amazing golden light. Fabulous! Plus Venice is sinking, so the floor of this church is therefore not at all level; it rolls up and down, almost a foot in some places!

We also got on top of the front facade where the 4 famous horses are, and wer able to look down on the square and take close-up pictures of the clock tower.

Since our hotel is just a block behind the cathedral, we were able to come home several times today to rest and drop our things. That was very convenient.

Later we decided to take a walk across the city, stopping to ride the 50 cent gondola across the Grand Canal. Everyone else is paying $80 to ride, except a few people who do the quick crossing for cheap, like us!

We also stopped into the Peggy Guggenheim Collection of modern art. It is in her old palace, right on the grand Canal where she lived her last years and collected really expensive wierd stuff by the likes of Picasso, Jackson Pollack, Gaugin, and other important modern artists. I did not like it at all, and sometimes I like modern art. Most of this was what I would call "truly awful." Heidi thought it was interesting, and a nice break from all the really old famous stuff we have been seeing in other European museums, like the Louvre, Orsay, and the Vatican. I can say I enjoyed the house.

We walked forever, and miracle of miracles, we did not get lost crossing Venice on foot. That's a first! Our goal was the station from where our bus will leave tomorrow. I wanted to buy our bus tickets to the airport, because I think we will be leaving in the morning before the office is open.

Eventually we got on the water bus and rode the whole length of the Grand Canal, back to San Marco. The sun came out and the air was warm and moist, and the light is always special in Venice. It was wonderful.

Later this evening we will go eat. Last night we went to dinner at 10:30. Tonight will be sooner.

Venice: August 22, 2006. Last Day in Italy!

This morning we had a little time to say goodbye to Venice before we had to leave. We meandered down a few alleyways over to St. Mark's Square, called by Napoleon "The most beautiful living room in Europe." It was early and almost deserted.

Yesterday I bought a bag of pigeon food for Heidi to feed the birds. She thought it was silly, but I knew she would have a great time tossing corn to the pigeons. They actually put birdy birth control into the pigeon food, but you could never tell it because there are literally 10,000 pigeons in St. Mark's Square.

This is the place where our family story happened, about Dad telling everyone to "Run!" when the pigeons took off. I was pregnant and did not run, and so I got pooped on, right on my belly! Heidi was the baby, and here she is back in Venice again, feeding those pigeons!

We left right after breakfast. We hauled our bags out to the water shuttle for the 40 minute trip to the bus station, then rode the bus to Marco Polo airport. We needed to get there by 10 for our flight which left at noon. We changed planes in Amsterdam and went on to Minneapolis, where unfortunately we had a 3 hour wait. We arrived home in SLC at 11:00 at night, after traveling for 23 hours straight.

This has been such great fun! I have loved every single minute of it. I don't think I can ever really get Venice out of my system. I still find myself daydreaming about going back . . . I'll just have to keep returning. Allof you reading, come with me next time!