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March 2004

Venice in the rain

David Aaronson
2005-10-01 18:47:00

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Venetian word which basically means Duke. Basilica of course means a cross-shaped religious building that you aren't allowed to take photographs in. The main basilica is free. The good stuff costs extra. The Pala d'Oro is one of those good things which is worth the extra Euros. It is a fascinating and intricate work of gold and gemstones (so many gemstones).

The outside of the basilica is fascinating and heavily influenced by the cultures that Venice traded with or fought with (usually both) like Turkey and Greece. Incidentally, you should really try to eat (or drink) as far from here as possible. The cover charges on San Marco square ranged as high as 7 Euros just to sit down.

The Doge's Palace leads from the main piazza to the waterfront (7). This is probably the single highlight of Venice if we had to pick one just because of the variety of things contained within it. Photography is not really permitted inside even though everyone else was taking pictures anyway. We followed the rules for the most part so we don't have any pictures of the private apartments of the Doges which are definitely worth seeing.

This is Giant's staircase inside the palace (8). This is a highlight because the guided tour says so. Sure it's nice but it doesn't compare to the Map Room which has two of the biggest globes you'll ever see. The ceilings alone in each of the rooms upstairs are worth the price of admission.

Ahh, the Bridge of Sighs (Ponte Sospiri) (9). This leads from the Doge's Palace to the dungeon. Convicted prisoners had their last view of the city from here before being locked away. It certainly isn't the most attractive bridge in Venice but we need to include this picture of it so that the next picture makes more sense.

This is the view from inside the bridge through those tiny little decorated openings (10). That's the church and island of San Giorgio visible across the lagoon. The dungeon is part of the tour of the Doge's Palace, or at least it was on this particular day. They seem to change the route daily if not hourly.

Sooner or later we have to bring up gelato, so let's get it over with now. Gelato (an Italian form of ice cream) is a necessary part of Italian life (and of visiting Italy in our opinion). On our 1999 Italy pages we did goofy things with colors and gelato flavors, so we are going to follow precedent even though Melanie almost always ordered brown and cream colored gelato flavors. Luckily David was around to use up as many different colors as possible. On this particular day David had apple while Melanie had chocolate and hazelnut .