Venice, Italy

We took the 9:35 train to Venice today. We arrived at 12:10 and took a vaporetto (water boat) to our hotel, Hotel Paganelli. It was rainy when we got there but we still stood out in the center of the boat so we could look around and take pictures. The hotel upgraded our room so we were in a 400 euro a night room for 70 euro. It was very nice but it was also very small. The walls were covered in fabric to match the bedspread and there was a flat screen TV on the wall. The bathroom counter and shower were made of glass tiles and there was a ceramic bowl sink on top of the counter. It really was pretty.
It was raining pretty hard when we got out of the hotel so we toured St. Mark’s Basilica. The church was decorated in all mosaics in the byzantine style. They also had a golden altarpiece, Pala d’Oro, that was decorated with 15 rubies, 300 emeralds, 1,500 pearls, and assorted sapphires, amethysts, and topaz. There are 250 blue-backed enamels with religious scenes and we had to pay 2E to see it. We also paid extra to see the San Marco Museum with contained The Bronze Horses that the venetians stole from Constantinople. The carbon dating says they are from 175 B.C. They are magnificent and they made me think of Renée who loves horses.
We also toured the Doge’s Palace. Doges ruled Venice from 1150-1550. The place contained the Doge’s living quarters and was where the government was run from. It also contains the largest oil painting in the world (570 square feet). It is by Tintoretto called Paradise. There was an armory museum, which Sam enjoyed and we toured the prison which was connected to the palace with the Bridge of Sighs. When a condemned man was led to the prison from the palace; he took one last look at the glory of Venice and sighed.
After the palace we walked around looking at the shops around St. Mark’s Square. Murano glass is made in Venice and most of the shops carried it in some form. We walked through the streets crossing canals and eventually went over the Rialto Bridge. We ate at a cicchetti bar, Cantina do Mori. You can get a class of wine (we had water) and horderves. The horderves were interesting and I have no idea what I was eating but most of them were good. Sam got one that was a piece of toast with super salty fish on it. If you love fish, Venice is the place to eat. We don’t so we had to tread carefully. A lot of their pasta dishes had fish in them too. We ended up having dinner at Rosticceria San Bartolomeo. It kind of felt like a 50s diner. Sam had gnocci and I had pizza. Rick Steves recommended mozzarella al prosciutto, which we had as an appetizer. I think it was a batter dipped and fried mozzarella and prosciutto sandwich. It was fantastic. We also had hot chocolate. They use their espresso machine to make it and it is fantastic.
We wandered around Venice for the rest of the evening. We got extremely lost, which is easy to do in Venice, but I guess that is part of the charm. Venice is the most unique place I have ever been too. Having canals everywhere and pedestrian only narrow streets, it has a surreal feel. We loved the magic of the night and exploring the less traveled paths in the city. We eventually found the signs saying Via San Marco, which are pointing you in the direction of St. Mark’s. Our hotel was close to that, so we made it back for the night.