Canals, Brioche, O Sole Mio!

Venice....how you are a feast to the eyes!  My head would go left, right, up and down and yet there was so much depth to what we saw.  Then for us, everything about Venice was new.  Maybe if you visited here often or lived here you wouldn't pay as much attention to the little things we noticed and wondered about.

Windows with shutters and lace that hid what was behind them.  Was someone peeking out at us?  And look at that lace in the window on the right...isn't is lovely?  We saw many lace curtains that were like that.

Doors of richly carved wood.  Look at this one.  The Moorish style top to it with a plaque that had a figure at the top holding what looked like an orb in one had and the other hand up giving a sign.  Below left and right are two medieval soldiers with swords in their hands yet their heads are sideways on their shoulders as though they were decapitated.  I can only guess that they wronged the church in some way and paid the price.  Since this does appear to be religious it could be Christ holding the "earth" and giving a "blessing" but I don't know why he would be blessing the two men who have lost their heads.

A tranquil view crossing a bridge.  We crossed many and I never felt like I was seeing the same thing twice.  I wondered how the boats wove in and out the narrow canal without hitting each other or maybe they did give a gentle nudge and no one was bothered by the bump.  Look at the level of the water.....now Venice gets some higher than normal high tides which means that water will spill into those doors that you can see.  I'm hoping that whatever room the overflow spills into does not ruin the floors.

Finally we think we should get something to eat.  All our sightseeing had made us hungry and what should appear but this visual feast of treats.  We saw pastries, candy and aha....they make sandwiches too!  We walked in and headed straight for the counter where a line up of sandwiches already made were there for us to choose from.

All the bread they used for the sandwiches were Brioche and we each picked a different one.  Mine was Brioche with speck.....

And E. chose Brioche with cured beef.....each one cost 3 euro.

We took them out and went to find a place where we could sit down and enjoy them.  We found this perfect piazza to have our lunch where we leaned against the wall of this church, took a rest and watched the people at the nearby restaurants as well as the coming and goings from the doors on the piazza.

I leave this post with one last photo of another Knocker....love the head on this one.

And a short video of a song you heard all the time in Venice...I am sure that the Venetians would prefer a different song but this singer was excellent!
 

Bong, Bong, Bong!

Realizing that we should think about dinner we started looking for a place to eat.  We would walk up to the plentiful restaurants and read each menu.  What did we want to eat?  How much did this place charge?  Was it busy or empty?  

We sort of stumbled out a calle and found the Grand Canal in front of us and to our right the Rialto Bridge.  How did we wind up here?  We had no idea but it was a pleasant surprise.

We started walking up and down along the water checking out the restaurants there.  We thought it would be nice to eat along the water.  Then it was what side of the Canal should we eat on?  It didn't really matter as after reading two different menus of restaurants side by side, we ended up at Ristorante Omnibus.  We ordered a 1/2 liter of the house Vino (7  Euro),  E. ordered Lasagna (9 Euro) and I ordered a Pizza with Speck and Rocket greens (9 Euro) which to the US dollar was about $36.00 in total.  Both our entrees were terrific!  We sat and relaxed after the long day of travel, finding our hotel, our beginning sightseeing and what or where to go the next day.  

I love that in Europe that you are never hurried out of a restaurant.  You can linger all you wish.  When you are ready to leave you ask for the bill and even the process of paying is not in a hurry. 

Finding our way back to the hotel was no problem as we just followed any sign that said "San Marco".  We got back to our room after 10:00 and got ready for bed.  I opened the windows and the street noise below didn't seem too loud and decided to leave the windows open to the fresh air.  I felt with all the carrying of my bag up and down over the bridges and up the many stairs to our room that a Tylenol PM was in order.  This way I would also get a sound sleep in a new setting and be able to wake up fresh and well rested for our big day of touring.  Or so I thought.


I heard this Bong, bong, bong and woke with a start.  What was that?  I flopped back down on my pillow and fell to sleep.  The next time the sound seemed louder and I fully awoke.  Bells?  Oh good Lord bells!  Of course we were quite close to the bell on top of Torre dell'Orologio and that was what was ringing.  The midnight toll is what woke me this time.  I got up and sadly closed the windows.  It was quiet outside once the bell had done it's bonging.  Nonetheless I did want to sleep the rest of the night.  With the windows closed not a sound outside could be heard.


Morning came and I rose first, took my shower and then E. did the same.  We walked out into the mostly emptied calle and looked for our breakfast.  We looked in shop windows where an employee would be tiding up the store for the day ahead.  


We found a panifici in a quiet spot near a narrow canal with outside tables to sit at.  We ordered our first Venician cappuccino (E. at first wasn't going to get one but she did and that began her morning start of a cappuccino everyday), and picked out our breakfast treat that was so often referred to as brioche (it was not the brioche I was familiar with).  

E.'s photo ~ first morning in Venice ~ Breakfast

The foot traffic began to pick up.  It seemed like everyone was talking on a cell phone and it was really cute to hear Italian and no English.  Several dogs and their owners walked by, most common seemed to be French Bulldogs.  I wondered where in the world they would take them to go to the bathroom.  I hadn't seen any doggie poop anywhere.  


Out of that narrow canal a small skiff of a boat drew up and then two men with a cart came up to the boat and quickly unloaded supplies off the boat to the cart.  Strong, good looking Italian men, fit, not pudgy sloppy Americans.  Oh I know I am not in the USA!    The cart and men were gone within minutes.  


Our day begins and off we go.  First destination is to St. Mark's Basilica.  We wait in a line that moves along where we can look around at how beautiful this Piazza is.  It is not flooded with tourist and the weather is perfect.  Brilliant blue skies with not a cloud to be seen.

Doge's Palace ~ Porta della Carta

I look to the right of our line and see this gorgeous entry that is called the Porta della Carta.  It stands between the Basilica and the Doge's Palace.  This was the ceremonial entrance where permits were checked for entry into the Palace courtyard.  There is the winged lion that stands so majestically in front of the Doge Francisco Foscari.   

Inside the Basilica your eyes are drawn up to the gilded walls and ceiling that are all mosaics.  Where some churches feel cold because of the vast marble, I felt warmth inside here.  Rounded arches covered with saints, angels and other religious figures were surrounding us.

We walk in a horseshoe shape around the inside and marvel at the beauty of the mosaic tiled floors of different designs.

I am transfixed by the flickering candles, of how I may not understand the lighting of a candle with a prayer, I can be moved by the thoughts that went with their lighting.