34 is the new Hot
Monday, August 05, 2013
Venice, Veneto, Italy
Temperature, that is, centigrade . Good morning, Venice.
Our day began early so that Barb and Rich could head off to San Marco Basilica in hopes of avoiding long lines. Fortunately, they had shade. We enjoyed a cooked breakfast of eggs, sausage, cheese, rolls, tomatoes, cereal, coffee, tea, and orange juice. At the grand cost of 3 euros each courtesy of a grocery store called COOP.
Rich and Barb headed to San Marco and were very impressed by the amazing mosaics that told the story of Adam and Eve through the Resurrection. The total effect was bringing light into the dark interior of the awe inspiring building. They paid extra to see the four horses that had unwillingly galloped all over Europe through the centuries as a symbol of power, from Constantinople to Rome to Paris and finally back to Venice. The horses also symbolize the four gospel riders. Lots of stuff in the treasury was stolen stuff.
Next they moved on to the Doge's Palace . The Doges were the rulers of Renaissance Venice. Learning about Renaissance-age experiments with oligarchic democracy was interesting. Power is always a difficult thing to manage. Rick Steves again helped build understanding of the new style of paintings that used oil. All of the paintings showed the virtues of "good government." After five hours of being tourists in the 95 degree heat, Rich and Barb decided to return to the apartment.
Jake and Jeannette, having seen San Marco and the Doge's palace previously, decided to stick back, do dishes (Jeannette), and try to perform some Yankee Ingenuity on our air conditioning units. A pasta pot, garbage can, and two hollowed out plastic earplug containers later, we finally had a cool apartment without A/C condensate flooding the floor. An elderly lady across our canal was not happy with our ingenuity as it expelled hot air directly into her kitchen window. She threw stuff at our shutters until getting our attention, at which point it was clear: move the a/c exhaust to another window . Done.
Jake and Jeannette went shopping. It was a good day. She bought a nice sun dress, they had pizza, and it was always enjoyable time spent.
After we all gathered back at the apartment for a little R&R, it was time for a bacari tour with local guide Alessandro. We weaved in and out to find the Rialto bridge, stopping for pizza and for Barb to also acquire a sun dress. Rich and Jake enjoyed the air conditioning for a moment in the sun dress store.
We met Alessandro and our group of 12 American and Canadian tourists, 8 of whom were teachers or retired teachers. Our guide, an animated fellow, took us to three different sites, each unique and offering beverage tasting and food sampling. (Cichetti.) The variety was amazing. Our group got along well and enjoyed the time spent wandering the narrow streets of Venice. In two different places, the aged buildings of Venice rubbed off, literally, on our clothing.
Alessandro teased us about how we Americans had ruined things like wine and balsamic vinegar by commercializing them. But it was in good taste.
Soon, he was off, as were we, in search of other comforts. For him, it was a party being thrown at home. For us, it was A/C. And here we are, candle-and,-otherwise-lit, with heart shaped pieces of ice (another story for another day), not ever deterred in our commitment to grand pilgrimages abroad.
Ciao.
Other Entries
2025-02-11