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| Pretty building with interesting ornamental sculpture on the top of the roof |
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| Canal with a lovely lace shop to the left with gorgeous lace hanging outside |
What a glorious day in Venice with bright, bright sunshine and a warm cozy breeze. After the lovely breakfast at the hotel I put my bags together and off I went for a quick ferry ride across the river one stop and then walked from Ca'D'Oro vaporetto stop and got a bit lost here and here. It's so easy to make one turn and then be walking and extra 20 minutes or so up and down little passages and over what seems like hundreds of bridges before you get back on track and headed in the right direction. But that's part of the fun in Venice, getting lost although with with luggage in tow better to just take a direct route.
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| Room in Ca'Bragadin hotel |
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| Ca'Bragadin hotel Facade |
After a bit of going around in circles I ended up asking a very sweet older Italian women who actually walked me there and was chatting that she was born and lived in Venice her whole life. Actually she was born in one house and only moved a few feet down the street when she got married and have lived there ever since. Her son is a gondolier operator and she is clearly very proud of that which she should be it's a great profession and a quintessentially Venetian thing to do when you visit. I did it when we all visited almost 12 years ago, my first visit to be exact. Now I can just enjoy watching others do it.
I checked into the Ca'Bragadin hotel which is so charming and actually is billed on it's literature as a "charming inn" and they do live up to that although it's a pretty large villa,. My room is pretty large and the ceilings must be about 25 feet high. I can't imagine how they used to heat these rooms when it was first built well over a hundred or more years ago.
The back entrance to the Teatro La Fenice (famous opera house) where they bring in set pieces and such by boat of course versus trucks like at the Met Opera in NYC. I love this image.
Teatro La Fenice (pronounced [la feˈnitʃe], "The Phoenix") is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of the most famous theatres in Europe, the site of many famous operatic premieres. Its name reflects its role in permitting an opera company to "rise from the ashes" despite losing the use of two theatres (to fire and legal problems respectively). Since opening and being named La Fenice, it has burned and been rebuilt twice more.
It wasn't long before I was out and about again walking and walking and walking in all directions, simply getting lost in the magic and beauty of this incredible city. I wonder if I'd ever get tired of walking around but I doubt it's possible there is so much to look at in every direction.
Standing free in the Piazza, is the Campanile of St Mark's church (1156/73 last restored in
1514), rebuilt in 1912 ' com'era, dov'era ' (as it was, where it was) after the collapse of the former campanile on 14 July 1902. Adjacent to the Campanile, facing towards the church, is the elegant small building known as the Loggetta, built by Sansovino in 1537-46, and used as a lobby by patricians waiting to go into a meeting of the Great Council in the Doges Palace and by guards when the Great Council was sitting.
"Piazza San Marco (English as St Mark's Square), is the principal public square of Venice, Italy, where it is generally known just as "the Piazza". All other urban spaces in the city (except the Piazzetta and the Piazzale Roma) are called "campi" (fields). The Piazzetta (the 'little Piazza') is an extension of the Piazza towards the lagoon in its south east corner (see plan). The two spaces together form the social, religious and political centre of Venice and are commonly considered together.. A remark usually attributed to Napoleon calls the Piazza San Marco "the drawing room of Europe" (the attribution to Napoleon is unproven). It is one of the few great urban spaces in Europe where human voices prevail over the sounds of motorized traffic."
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| Top of St. Mark's Cathedral |
Clock tower in St. Mark's Square - Clock Tower (Torre dell'Orologio), completed in 1499, above a high archway where the street known as the Merceria (a main thoroughfare of the city) leads through shopping streets to the Rialto, the commercial and financial center.
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| One side of St. Mark's Cathedral |
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| The main front entrance to the Cathedral |
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| St. Mark's Cathedral with the Doge's Palace to the right |
I had dinner, pizza and salad near my hotel and then walked about some more for an hour or so until I started to get tired but again I ended up taking a bit of a detour as I searched for my hotel. But I eventually got there and enjoyed the walk along the way.
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| Beautiful dresses (one could spend days just window shopping in this city) |
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| Another beautiful window with glass art |
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| This window had jewelry and some small nik-naks |
The back entrance to the Teatro La Fenice (famous opera house) where they bring in set pieces and such by boat of course versus trucks like at the Met Opera in NYC. I love this image.
I had dinner, pizza and salad near my hotel and then walked about some more for an hour or so until I started to get tired but again I ended up taking a bit of a detour as I searched for my hotel. But I eventually got there and enjoyed the walk along the way.
