The heart of Venice

Today began with a mission: Get a "Readin' the San Juan Record" photo for Bill. The pigeons sure liked something...sorry Bill, but I'm pretty sure it was the bird seed sprinkled all over my arms, not the paper. Man, you throw a few seeds and those birds come runnin'...er, flying. I held up the paper and smiled. Or maybe I cringed. It's hard to tell when there's a pigeon or two on your head.

After the pigeons, we went into St. Mark's Basilica. My favorite part about this church is the floor. It's all mosaics of course, but it rolls like the water outside. There are dips and peaks, all smooth. We're talking a good twelve inches in some cases.

We went into the Correr Museum (facing St. Mark's Basilica) and saw museum-type stuff showing the history of Venice. We saw paintings, sculptures, metalworks, coins, books...My favorite things here were a series of drawings depicting the constellations. It had the stars in there and then the shape or figure of the constellation was drawn in in detail. So Scorpio had a scorpion, etc.

We decided it was definitely time for some lunch...hopefully lunch that wasn't over $20 (that's about average). Good ol' Rick Steves to the rescue.

After some tasty pasta, we were heading to the Doge's Palace when we saw that the line for the bell tower was extremely short, so we jumped on for a ride on the elevator for some panoramic views of Venice.

The Doge's Palace was not only the Doge's residence, but also the political and judicial headquarters of Venice. It's a huge building filled with art and guilding on all walls and ceilings. The paintings were obviously intended for each room they appeared in because they went with the shape of the room. Angles, arches...no space was left out.

Most of the paintings were really dark, and it was hard to see them. To be honest, I kind-of had a headache after we left from looking up so much and straining my eyes.

The largest room is the Grand Council room. The Doge's throne is here. It's a little weird to me that they call it a throne because it doesn't create the correct image. It's a large wooden platform with several seats all along one piece of furniture. To say it's a bench sould simplify it too much, but it definitely wasn't a ruby encrusted seat.

Behind the throne, filling the entire wall to the ceiling is the world's largest oil painting. It depicts Christ and Mary surrounded by 500 saints. The intent was to remind the Doge that wise decisions could get them in such company.

We visited the dungeons. Stone cells. Metal bars. The different thing about this dungeon is how you get to it. To reach it from the courts, you must cross the Bridge of Sighs. It is here, tradition says, that prisoners saw their last view of Venice and sighed as they continued on their way. We paused to let people on the outside take our picture, waving at them. Do you think they can see us in their pictures?