Sunday in Venice

Our first full day started with an Americano breakfast at Guerrato of cereal, yogurt, fruit and coffee and then were off for St. Mark’s Piazza. It was jammed with tourists and a long line to get into the Basilica, so we opted for the Doge’s Our repalace. Entering up the golden staircase brings you into another world, where the fate of the world of 1200 AD was decided. It’s an amazing place, grandiose and highly ornamented with art commemorating Venice’s place as ruler. The Venetians considered there place in the world to be a direct blessing from God, so the work reflects the marriage of Venice as a beautiful young woman with the water culture of Venice. Large rooms where the council of 40 , 10 or just meetings with the doge and powerful council members are the focus. Two huge globes of the heavens and earth dominate the state room. There isn’t much furniture as the doge had to provide his own, and the heirs quickly removed it once he died, But there is artwork everywhere, ceilings included, that was commissioned by some of the greatest painters. Tintoretto, Titian, Veronese. It took us about 4 hours to go through this magnificent place, including some very dreary prisons. It was a great introduction to the culture and life of Venice. Next stop, the Civic Corner Museum across the square,
The exhibit was about printing, but again, the Venetian paintings took center stage. We saw some Etrusan artifacts and some very cool wooden platform shoes from yesteryear. Surprising, but there is very little security in these places. With some of the greatest treasueres of the world its interesting that we didn’t go through a screening process anywhere, This museum had no place to sit and relax so our visit wasn’t too long.
Dinner
On Sunday , many places are closed. We wanted to go to one restaurant we read about , Antiche Stellato, in the Canareggio sestier (neighborhood). We walked thorugh the original Jewish ghetto and saw some kosher restaurants, and were even recruited to find out more by a Lubavitch young man. We politely declined and found our restaurant after a good walk. It didn’t open until 7PM, so we walked down to a charming hotel on the canal and had Prosecco and watched the boats of the neighborhood go by. It was a lovely sunny day, and totally relaxing. Another walk brought us back to our homebase Rialto, and the pensione Guerrato.