Sunday, June 10, 2018 (Venice)

Doge's Palace

Doge's Palace Entrance

Today we had to leave before breakfast started because of our 8:30 tour across the island. We got ready and grabbed a cool water on our way out for the day. Our tour was again beginning in St. Marcos square so we walked, already getting hot and sweaty. Our Secret Itineraries tour had 15 in our group. We received a little background into the selection of Doges and the power of these men over Venice. We learned about the politics and what happened behind closed doors to the public eye. We saw the secret doors and the Room of Inquiry where prisoners were taken to make them confess. We learned about Casanova and his conniving to get out of prison. We were able to walk into the prisons and get an idea of how lonely, cold, and isolated these men must have been while serving their time. We walked across the Bridge of Sighs. This bridge has two windows that overlook the sea and freedom of that outside of the bars. The prisoners would see this last hope of the free world as they passed over into other prisons.

Cell Doors in the Secret Itineraries

Cell in the Secret Itineraries

A look inside...

View from the Doge's Palace

Secret entrance into this room

Doge's office

Door hinges made for the floors to shift

Doors in the library

Our guide

Weapons

Swords

You could look out into the attic area

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I LOVED that floor.  It was used to disorient those on trial.

Tiffany and Johnnie

24 hour clock

View out the Bridge of Sighs

Tiffany wasn’t feeling well so we found a restaurant with AC where we could rest and grab some lunch. She felt better after she ate so we walked around in the various stores. I found a glass ornament (a cute snowman and Santa in a gondola). We wanted to take a gondola ride but they are 80 euros during the day and 100 euros after 6pm ($90 - $120). I made a sign, “Share a Ride with Two Teachers. Only 40 euros.” Tiffany said this was way out of her comfort zone so even though she liked the idea, she did not want to hold the sign. I’m a bargain hunter by nature so I held the sign. It took only a couple of minutes before a man and his wife came up and he said, “I would consider sharing a ride.” We gathered our money and paid the gondolier. We gave the couple the back “romantic seat” and Tiffany and I sat in the front. This gondolier never said a word or sung. Fortunately, the couple we shared the ride with were very nice. Both of them could speak several languages but only the husband spoke English. He was quite humorous so it was still a very enjoyable ride and for half price. It is a special experience and pretty amazing at how the gondoliers can steer.

Johnnie loves puppets

Johnnie and Tiffany in the gondola

Johnnie with our sign.

Tiffany and Johnnie with our gondola ride friends.

Tiffany with the Rialto Bridge

Johnnie in the gondola

After our ride, we browsed through some more shops, had some gelato and went to our spot for our next tour. We took the Ecology of Venice tour with coastal oceanographer and geologist, Luca Zaggia. Luca explained how Venice was built, the engineering that sustains it, and the vital threats facing it today and in the near future. The tour provided a great framework for the rest of our visit, pointing out the engineering, ecology and architecture of the city. We saw many different examples of buildings that had deteriorated due to increasingly frequent flooding and chronic rise of water level. We learned how the city is addressing structural methods for adaptation of the changing physical circumstances in Venice.

Tiffany, Luca and Johnnie

One can see the tide effects on these steps.

10 m of beach have been lost in Venice in a year

One of the Oceanography offices

5 meters of wall under the water

Larger, bigger beams are used to expand floor square footage

Venice mural

These doorways show the lowering of the sea level.

Nails on post keep crustaceans from attaching to post and prolong the life of the post.

Perpendicular walls to canal are weight bearing.
Parallel walls are not.
Facade is not weight bearing.  Windows are used to make the facade lighter.

Under these "squares" are clay basins that collected rain water.
This was the source of fresh water for Venetian of days gone by.

The white stones mark the edge of the water collection basin.
White stone is from the Croatian coast and Venetian lava rock doesn't get slick when wet.

Stucco is used.  It peels in layers which protects the building and doesn't have to be replaced as often.

After our tour we went to the bus station so we could walk back to our room. We needed a solid idea of the time frame and exact path since we had a very early flight in the morning. We saved a considerable amount of money by booking the early flight, 5:30 am. Our problem was that no vaporetto’s (boat buses) started that early. The first bus to take us to the airport would get us there at 5:09 and a boat taxi would be over $150. When we got to the bus station, I noticed a row of taxis just across the street. We found out it was $40 for both us and our luggage to get a ride to the airport and the taxis run 24/7. We were relieved that we did find a way but still a little uneasy about hauling our luggage over a mile, and across five bridges, at 3:45am. We followed the walk easily back to our area, had dinner, took showers and packed. We went to bed as early as possible, around 10pm. I kept waking up afraid we wouldn’t wake up on time.

Slowest elevator at our Monastery--30 seconds between floors

WALKING ACTIVITY: 8.9 miles; 19,580 steps; 16 floors