Venice

The next day we headed down to the Venice area.  We weren't staying in Venice, we were across the water.  It was cheaper and so much better for us and the boys.

When we arrived, what do you think the boys wanted to do first?!?!  I will give you one guess.... yep in the pool!!  This one was pretty cool as well.  It had a slide right into one of the pools!!!!

Then off to the pirate ship as AJ is chasing Michael.

Next they wanted to go in the deep pool, Michael couldn't touch and AJ just barely.

Michael heading back to the bouncy slide into the pool.  By this time we were starting to play tag.  I think it is their favorite game in the water because they always make me it.  :-)

AJ up close and personal!!!  He came up and I took his picture and I love his eyes in it!!!!  After that we headed back to our place and ate dinner.  Then to sleep for our big day in Venice tomorrow.

On June 8th, we headed into Venice.  Since we were across the sea, we headed for the ferry to take us across.  My travelers ready to go!!!!  We were going to St Mark's Basilica which is why they are wearing long pants.

AJ and Michael playing war on the ferry.  It was funny, there was an older lady that was sitting there watching them the whole time, about 30 minutes.

This was the next stop, Lido.  It is a pretty big town and supposedly lots to do, but we didn't have time to stop there, so on we went.

Our first view of Venice coming in by boat.

It was a fairly busy down out on the water heading into Venice.

This looks so much different from when David and I were here a little over two years ago, it was POURING down rain and lots and lots of people.  It is still early yet though.

There are people like this all over the place you can take your picture with for a price.  I bet she was hot by the end of the day.

This is the statue of Victor Emmanuel II, who took the title King of Italy in 1861 to become the first king of a united Italy since the 6th century.  This statue was built in 1887.

The boys liked the lions that were around the base of the statue!!

This enclosed bridge is called the Bridge of Sighs.  It was first called Prisons Bridge.  It connects the New Prison to the interrogation rooms in the Doge's Palace and was built in 1600.  The view from this bridge was the last view convicts saw before their imprisonment.  The name comes from the suggestion that prisoners would sigh at their final view of beautiful Venice through the window before being taken down to their cells.

This is the clock tower that was built in 1496.  This is also the first digital clock.  If you look close, under the flying lion, on the left is roman numerals for the hour and on the right numbers for the minutes.  It changes every five minutes.

On top stand two bronze "Moors," or African Muslims.  (Built originally to be giants, they only gained their ethnicity when the metal darkened over the centuries.)  

The boys in front of St Mark's Basilica.

This is a little farther back you and can see all the different architectures that are in it.  The architectural style of St. Mark's has been called "Early Ransack."

This mosaic shows a picture of the church and the theft that put Venice on the pilgrimage map.  Two men (center, with the crooked staffs) enter St Mark's.  On their shoulders they bear the coffin with the body of St Mark, which they've spirited away from Muslim land.  Seven centuries after Mark's death, his holy body was in Muslim-occupied Alexandria, Egypt.  In 828, two merchants of Venice visited there and decided to "rescue" the body from the so-called "infidels."  They cleverly hi it in a pork barrel and carried it off to Venice.  They built a church over Mark's bones and made him the patron saint of the city.

The church was encrusted with materials looted from buildings throughout the Venetian empire.  Their prize booty was these four bronze horses that adorned the balcony, stolen from Constantinople during the Fourth Crusades.  These are the originals which are now inside to save them from the elements.

This is the called the Pentecost Mosaic.  The dove of the Holy spirit shoots out a pinwheel of a spiritual lasers, igniting tongues of fire on the heads of the 12 apostles below.  It is the Day of Pentecost, and the apostles have been miraculously given the ability to speak other languages.

It was truly breathtaking to just look around.  All of the ceilings, the sides are all mosaic, made of little, teeny tiny tiles.  There are over 8000 meter squared of mosaic.  When you look around and truly think of all the time it took to make and build it.  This basilica took hundreds of years to build.  Construction on this one started in 1063 and was completed in 1807, which is also when it became a public basilica and not just for the Doge.

Each Mosaic tells a different story, from Noah, Mark, Jesus.  All over the basilica, every single thing they created, just amazing!!!  

We went up to the top and the museum to check things out.  The boys in front of the clock tower.  We had such a beautiful day to visit Venice!

This is a view of part of St Mark's square.  The square is about 2 1/2 acres.  Imagine this square under water, it happens about 100 times a year when the tides get too high.  It seeps under the stones and everything becomes soggy.  During floods, the benches are placed end-to-end to create elevated sidewalks.

This is the other side of the square with the sea behind them.  On the left is the Doge's palace and on the right is a building built by Napoleon.  

This is the top of the original Campanile, or bell tower, which was also the lighthouse guarding the entrance to the Grand Canal.  It was a marvel of the 10th century architecture, until the 20th century when it toppled into the center of the piazza.  One night in 1902, it groaned ominously, sending people scurrying from the cafes and then crash.  The golden angel on top landed right at the basilica's front door, standing up.  It was rebuilt 10 years later.

The boys wanted to sit on the lion and of course David wanted to join them.  These are said to be one of the most photographed lions ever.  They are right beside the basilica.

This is a statue of Carlo Goldoni who was a famous Venetian playwright.  The statue was built in 1883.

After that we were all a bit hungry and decided to find some place to eat and what better to eat in Italy than pizza and pasta!!!

The boys standing on the famous Rialto Bridge, one of the world's most famous bridge.

This is more like the Venice we saw, but without the umbrellas and pouring down rain.

Both David and I thought this lamp was really cool!

Next we headed back to the square to go check out the Doge's palace,the seat of Venetian government and home of it ruling duke, or doge, this was the most powerful half-acre in Europe for 400 years.

These statues of Mars and Neptune are on the top of the golden staircase where even the most powerful visitors climbed this to meet the doge.

These are the St. Mark's basins that are in the main square.

This is an upper view of the courtyard - it is very eclectic and you can see the domes of St. Mark's Basilica behind it.  That was the doge's entrance into his chapel until it was made public.

This is the start of the golden staircase. 

The Golden staircase was so-called because of the richness of the gilded stucco ceiling. This frames frescoes and bas-reliefs of male and female figures which symbolize the various virtues. The plan of the staircase was of J. Sansovino.  The stuccos are a work of A. Vittoria (XVI century).

This is called the four door room.  It is aptly named for the four doors, two in this and two in the next.  The room is very ornately painted and designed.  There is not a single inch that doesn't have something carved, painted, etc in there.

The whole palace was like this room, everything covered in paintings, etc.  It seemed like no room was left untouched.

This is the Antechamber to the Hall of the Full Council.  This is were all the foreign ambassadors and delegations waited to be received by the Full Council, which was delegated by the Senate to deal with foreign affairs.

This is the Council Chamber where the Full Council met, but they really were only responsible for organizing and coordinating the work of the Senate.

You can see how large the paintings are compared to the people below and this is every room.

This is the Chamber of the Council of Tens.  The Council of Ten that gives this room its name was set up after a conspiracy in 1310, when the noblemen tried to overthrow the institutions of the State.  Initially meant as a provisional body to try those conspirators, the Council of Ten is one of those many examples of Venetian institutions which were intended to be temporary but ended up becoming permanent.

This is armor worn by Henry IV.  It is quite small, David would never fit in it, we figure it would be about AJ's size.

There were rooms and rooms for the armory.  At the time this was under the control of the Council of Ten and was stocked with weapons that would be readily available for the palace guards.

It is a huge collection with many weapons from the fourteenth century.

AJ checking out off the different weapons.  This was both boys favorite room!  They couldn't believe all of the weapons that were there.

Here is the old time ten shooter.  It looks really, really heavy.

This is the Chamber of the Great Council with is 53 meters long and 25 meters wide.  The picture on the right is on one wall, and the chairs for some of the council is below it.  It is the largest and most majestic chamber in the Doge's Palace and also on of the largest rooms in Europe.

This is the view the prisoners would have had on the Bridge of Sighs, their last sight of Venice before heading into the prisons.

Michael standing by one of the doors to a cell to show you how small they were.  There was nothing in the cells, and there were a lot of them.  After that we headed back towards the ferry and back to our place.  Of course we were home in plenty of time to go swimming after we got back!  Then back for dinner, games and sleep.  We were very lucky with the weather and enjoyed our day in Venice!!!