38 Venice Day 1

Venice, the city where you dare not try to hop off the city bus between official stops. If you did, you might very well drown.

We arrived about 1:00 and the 64 of us made our way from the bus stop across three bridges (steps up and steps down). People were warned about this procession but still some people had far too much luggage along with bears and packages, etc. We did arrive at the Hotel Atlantide, a fine 2 star hotel. The rooms, like most hotels in Europe that are more than a few years old, are a hodge-podge of sizes, features and decor. Some student groups have suites, with lots of space and great balconies, others have cramped space with a nice view of a brick wall. We have a nice rope clothesline on pulleys right outside the window and a courtyard that at one time was probably a lovely garden. It is now a place to store building materials.

Venice is a great city. On our first afternoon, we managed to figure out the vaporetti (the city waterbuses). The entire island part of the city of Venice is a pedestrian zone. There are no cars or motorcycles in the city (although I did see one 2 year old driving a red electric four-wheeler down the sidewalk). This was such a nice relief from the noisy streets of Rome and Florence. The most dangerous thing you can do while walking in Venice is to run over a 70 something year old nun as you round one of the blind corners in the very narrow streets that crisscross the city. I guess it would also be possible to be taking photos while you walk and then step into the Grand Canal. (No, it did not happen to me!)

We got on the city bus and it took us down the beautiful Grand Canal to San Marco Square. The church there houses the bones of St. Mark (so the story goes). Next door to the church is the Doge’s Palace (Doge is Italian for Duke). Venice was the major power in Europe for over 400 years. Being a port there was a lot of economic influence. The Palace was evidently glorious in its day. The Doge was elected for life but the power really fell on the nobility of the Venetian State. All 2600 of them met to pass laws and the Grand Council room held them all. There is the world’s largest oil painting located in this hall. It is by Tintoretto and is a painting of Christ and Mary surrounded by 500 saints.

After walking around San Marco square, we decided not to inquire about the prices of the stuff in the windows. Most of the shops were designer names and the kind of place where there is a large showroom with one item per shelf stylishly displayed. It was either way outside our price range or it was Moscow during the cold war.

We got back on the waterbus and were going to travel the long way around the island to watch as the sun went down. We got on the boat and when the sun went down very quickly, we discovered that there are not many lights you can see from the water. We got off at the next stop and then caught the next boat going the other direction. We got back to our hotel area and spent a so-so night on a hard bed (not too bad) but with a very flat pillow.