Day 7: The Basilica and Views

Pigeons!

The new room is louder. Lots of banging throughout the night. I picture the locals opening and closing their shutters all night long, yelling to their partner through their house. In the morning, it sounded like people were dumping metal pipes onto boats (I think it was the metal doors sliding open of the shops as they opened). AND, the new rooms do NOT have an espresso maker (the old one did). BUT, with two bathrooms, we have twice the toilette paper! Not that we ran out before, but it was close, even with the bidet :)

All our shoes were dry, no more squishing around!

After breakfast we headed to Piazza San Marco with breadsticks in our pockets, ready for the birds. If you are a pigeon advocate, please skip this part (as we are feeding them non-bird food and exploiting them for photos). The birds are crazy. They do tend to be able to smell who has food and who doesn't. If you don't, they mostly fly by, but if you do, they land on your arm, your shoulder, your head. I really wanted one on my head, but they wouldn't land there. They did tend to favour hats over plain heads. Their claws were mostly gentle. But, after a few minutes, our arms were a little irritated and we were out of food, so, perfect timing. It was also time for our tour at the Basilica di San Marco.

Alessandro had encouraged us to buy tickets online. This means you skip the line (which is an average of 45 minutes) and walk right into the Basilica. It cost a little more, but it came with a 60 minute tour. Not too long, for those of us disliking these kinds of tours. What was great about it was all the history our guide shared with us (I never would have read as much as she told us, so it was great to hear it all). The tour also allowed us to go into a side room that only tours are allowed to go into. There are absolutely no photos, videos, selfies (yes, it says this), or camera usage within the Basilica. But, in this side room, they close the doors, turn on the lights and we are allowed to take photos.

Outside wall of the Basilica (left).
BabyKiller in the side room (middle).
Our selfie, in an permitted area, over the tile floor (right).

There is a wall in this side room, where they took away the marble wall to see what was beneath it. But they took it off to roughy and took of half of a mosaic wall that was hidden under the marble. They have tried to restore it, but with the salty air, it is futile. Within just the last 7 years, more of the remaining mosaic has disappeared due to salt. So they have closed this room off and only open it a few times a day for the tours.

In this room, there are several items, including three burials and two baptising "baths". One, big tub, is to baptise adults, and the other (seen in the middle photo) is to baptise babies. However, the artist made the "lid" out of very heavy metal and the four doors (so you can baptise four babies at a time) are too heavy, so VERY unsafe to put a baby in there (so we nicknamed it the BabyKiller, not that any babies died in there, but in our warped need to entertain ourselves, this is what we called it).

Also inside the Basilica, our tour allowed us to go into areas that usually cost a small fee (so we paid for it via our tickets). We got to see the sarcophagus of San Marco, himself, if you believe it. Our guide mentioned that it had the Pope's seal on it, and anything with the Pope's seal is above scrutiny (no scientific tests can be performed). And we saw an amazing gold altar piece, the Pala d'Oro. It was truly amazing with the amount of gold and jewels and attention to details. We enjoyed the story of how the Venetians thwarted Napoleon's attempt to steal it by painting a ulgy-false front that he deemed unworthy of taking, so he left it.

After our tour, we were left within the Basilica to roam around at our leisure. We decided to pay a few extra Euros to see the upper level, which included a wrap-around balcony with amazing views of the Piazza.

As is our pattern, after the Basilica, we headed back to the hotel to rest before lunch. Also, backpacks are forbidden in the Basilica, so we needed to go back to pick that up and fill it with water and other items. Chris wondered if we needed to bring rain jackets again, I said no, I thought the weather was going to be ok the rest of the day (foreshadow alert!)

The Rialto (notice the giant building on the right covered
so you can't see the construction going on below it. the
building on the left is also having this done, but it's a little
harder to see in this photo)

After lunch, we headed to Peggy Guggenheim Collection. On our way, we were able to cross the Ponte dell'Accademia, the southern most bridge to cross the Grand Canal. Wonderful vistas and great photo opportunities. A great way to make up for the Rialto being closed. Side note: You can still cross the Rialto, but all the sides are blocked off, so there is no view off of the bridge, and coming in via water, you only see blocked out shops on the water side. Shops in the middle are open for business, and on one side, there is a 10x30 sqft. area where you can take photos off the bridge, but your view is of construction, not waterside restaurants with colourful awnings as it was in the past.

The Guggenheim Collection was more interested to me than the Biennale. I'm reinforcing that I definitely like old art better than a lot of the more modern art. I'm sure there are more artsy defining words to describe what I do like and don't like, but anyway. I did like seeing actual Picasso and Dali pieces. The visiting collection of the Pollock brothers (mostly Charles was represented, but there were a few pieces from Jackson) was cool to see. My favourite ended up being pieces by Vasily Kandinsky, while Xander enjoyed this piece by Picasso.


After the museum (yay, we made it through two museums and a tour on our trip!), we headed for some gelato (of course!) and then to the part of the island that would give us a panoramic view of Venice, from the Piazza all the way to the end where the Biennale is located. More walking, more gelato. More heat. More photos.

On our way to dinner, we figured we'd cut our walking by half if we could take two traghettos. Yay! But when we got to the first traghetto, it closed at 6pm, it was after 6. Boo!

So, more walking it is. Side note: yesterday was about 7.22 miles, and today is about 7 miles. We are deserving of that gelato!

We enjoyed a very lovely dinner. It was a most relaxed dinner, knowing we had seen so much of what we had wanted to do. Xander was feeling much better. The food was good. The atmosphere (a quiet square) was good.

In the last five minutes of our dining experience, a panicked waiter came running from table to table. He got to ours and talked super fast Italian. We looked at him with blank stares. He paused, realising we didn't understand a word he just said, "The rain! It's coming!" He was handing out table numbers on pieces of paper, asking people to bring all their stuff inside, to transfer themselves inside to finish out their meals. We had already finished, so we just asked, "Il conto per favore!"

Meanwhile, we looked to the skies, and yes, they were dark and foreboding. And yes, lightning started (foreshadow "cashing in").

Xander, not a fan of the lightning or thunder, wanted to race home. So we ran through the streets towards our hotel. Just about the time we got cramps from eating and running, the drops started to fall. We were almost home, but then... we passed a self-serve frozen yogurt shop... remember, moral imperative... doesn't matter that it's yogurt and not gelato... must. stop. to. get. frozen. yogurt.

So we stopped to fill cups of yumminess and that's when it really started to rain. We tried walking under as much cover as possible, but... it was wet and our shoes were squishy again.

Day 4: First Day in Venice

Wahoo, and we're off to Venice, Italy! Just a 25 minute taxi to the Berlin airport, with a lot LESS luggage than the last time. Phew! Venice was a little nervous about going through security, remembering the last time, but we pretty much sailed through... until they found scissors in her backpack. Ooops. They've been there the whole time, but this is the first time security found them. They had her take them out, saw that they were "kid" scissors (basically blunt tipped) and let her keep them. Another, phew!

They checked ID (passports) at checkin, but then nothing when we arrived in Italy. We got to walk through the Schengen arrival doors, so no customs since we were flying from within the Schengen area. Cool! I think this was a bingo item for Venice.

Side note: Chris was signed a seat in a different row than us. But, just before take-off, he asked to change to an open seat and was able to join us. Just weird. The entire row in front of the kids was empty and the seat next to me was empty. And yet, Chris was signed a seat a few rows up next to a mom with an unhappy baby. He got to sit with his family, and the mom had more room to move with her baby. Win-win!

Ready! Set! Arrived!

Upon arrival in Venice, Chris and Xander figured out what tickets to get for transportation into Venice. The last time we traveled here, we took the train from the Bologna airport, so this was new to us. We took a city bus to Venice and then a water taxi. The water taxi was crazy full. People shoved right up into your personal space. A taxi worker kept telling us we had to take our backpacks off. You had to either stow it or hold it. I guess they figure it makes more room for people to be shoved all in. I think I stepped on a dog's tail, who was sitting so quietly with his owners. Sorry!

We checked into the hotel and left our bags (too early to get into the room), and went out to find lunch. This restaurant was just something to tide us over, so nothing special. We did find out something interesting about the bathrooms here. It is typical to have a door to the bathrooms open into a small sink area. Then, there are two doors, one for women and one for men. Doesn't sound odd. But the sink area is small and it is sometimes awkward to be sharing space with the opposite sex when you are used to having a lot of space alone. The first one had frilly mirrors and girls primping, so if you're a dude, you have to walk by them and into your bathroom stall, just inches away. Not horrible, just different. After a few uses, I got used to the idea and, really, I didn't bump into anyone in all that time... it was mostly just the anticipation that kept me on my toes.

Clock tower (left). Government building (middle-left).
The kids playing in a giant water puddle (middle-right). The left-front of the Basilica (right).

We walked to Piazza San Marco. Oh, my! It was crowded! Again, I don't remember it being this crowded. But the buildings were just as beautiful as I remembered. The kids took a break from the heat by wading through the giant puddle that covered the middle of the Piazza.

We had no real plans for today. Just to walk about and take it all in. We headed to the water's edge at the port. The kids stuck their feet into the water there. The beauty of the place definitely takes a little weight out of the heat.

Gelato. We must find gelato. Ok, not hard to find, as there is a gelateria on every "block". You just have to find a good one (but I still argue that they are all probably good). We hunted for a specific one recommended to us and enjoyed our first-of-many gelatos. Then onto our hotel to find our room and take a rest.

View from our balcony at the "Starhotel Splendid Venice" hotel (left and middle)
Venice, pretending to think the bidet was a water fountain (right)

We stayed at the Starhotel Splendid Venice, thanks to HotelTonight's help with this one. It is located between the Rialto bridge and the Piazza San Marco. Great for walking to all the main spots. But it is a slight trade-off in that you are in the heart of the the hustle and bustle (translate to noise and crowds). We are in a family room which is ginormous. Three big rooms (entry, kids beds, master beds) with a large bathroom (tub and shower, bidet, big counters). And thanks to science, we have air conditioning, the BEST thing about the room, really! We do have a wonderful balcony and a views of a canal and bridges... but did I mention the air conditioning? Love it.

Side note: The electrical plugs are NOT the same as in Germany. What? But don't panic, Chris brought one universal-converter and we were able to share that one to recharge all our devices. Phew! We didn't bring laptops, but boy, we needed our phones (for navigation and communication) and the kids NEEDED their iPods to be charged! We scraped by with the shared converter. It just meant that the kids had to leave their iPods to charge in the room during the day, so they couldn't take them out to take photos of their own. Lesson learned. May need more universal-converters for other travels in the future.

As much as we wanted to rest and not do much (we were all tired from an early start), we decided we must walk to the other side of the island to meet Alessandro, one of HotelTonight's hotel-side correspondents. He grew up in Murano and has now lived in Venice for many, many years. He works with the Hotel Antiche Figure on the Ferrovia side of Venice and LOVES his city. He loves to share his knowledge of its history and ideas of where to visit.

Kids and map (left), Chris and Alessandro (middle), Kids walking (right)

We met Alessandro at his hotel and were greeted with warm welcomes and bellinis. He spent a long time showing us the map and pointing out places to see, eat, and visit. The kids had their iPods this time (this was before we realised the outlets were different) and occupied themselves quietly as we studied the map. Alessandro then walked us to dinner before heading home, and we enjoyed a nice dinner to end our day.

Alessandro had sent other clients to the same restaurant (clients who were staying at his hotel) and they sat right next to us. They were ending their 2 week trip (a New Jersey family with three grown daughters). As we talked about their trip, our trip, and other niceties, Venice and Xander (but Venice in particular) were super tired and ready to go back to the hotel for some good rest.

Side note: I am now remembering how long the Italians like to eat (or enjoy each other's company at the table). You get service and food very fast, but it takes about a year to get the bill. EVERY TIME we have to say, "Il conto per favore". And even that takes a while.

As a result, no kid brushed their teeth tonight. It was straight to bed with those sleepyheads.