Today after a quick visit to to Sant'Alvise Church just near where we were staying, , we had to find Piazza San Marco and, because Marco (our home exchanger not the San Marco!) had suggested an alternative route to avoid crowds, we took the alternative route which allowed us to visit the Santa Maria dei Miracoli Church where we were amazed at the intricately decorated pink, white and grey marble.
The inside was extremely ornate with artwork.
We stopped for coffee at the campo of the Church of Giovanni e Paolo where there is a massive equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni by Verrocchio (Leonardo's master).
Where you buy coffee there you spend a penny. Following our adventures in Provence last year, the toilet scout had to suss out the situation before I was willing to spend any pennies. The situation was acceptable and off I went. Money spent and hands washed after the transaction I attempted to exit same loo and found that no matter which way I turned the lock I could find no way of exiting. After a little panic and a mental search of possible Italian phrases for "Help", I texted Jim, "I can't get out!". I wasn't even sure he would hear his phone or even have it with him so I continued to turn the lock and the loo resounded with the clicks as my face got redder and redder with frustration. Then suddenly the door slid open and I was confronted with a rather bemused woman and Jim, my hero! I had forgotten that the toilet door was a sliding door and I had been attempting to push it outwards. My face was already at the limit of its redness from panic so embarrassment was superfluous. Is it any wonder, however, that we then proceeded to get lost and took a circuitous route through the back streets of Venice and passing the hospital with ambulances outside on the canal.
Getting lost afforded us the opportunity to realise that Venice is a working city dependent on everything being brought in by boat.
Venice also has its litter problems and the above sight is evidence of the city's problem with plastic water bottles and its encouragement of tourists to refill their bottles from the numerous fountains throughout the city.
We eventually arrived at St. Mark's Square. The sighs of relief at the Bridge of Sighs were quite genuine!
We wandered about with the other tourists taking photos of the Doge's Palace and the Basilica etc.
We marvelled at the prices of coffee, food and ice cream and overwhelmed or underwhelmed we found a spot to eat our little picnic of egg sandwiches in the Accademia area.
I had difficulty deciding which of these pairs of shoes to buy. Then Jim reminded me that they were not made for my Frankenstein left foot. He breathed a sigh of relief as I reluctantly turned away!
While exploring one of the squares in the area, we discovered that there were Vivaldi concerts in the Chiesa Di San Vidal by the musical group Interpreti Veneziani. Jim would avoid such events but I could not miss it so we booked tickets for that evening for a concert of Vivaldi, Albinoni and Bellini. As there were restaurants close to the Church, we reserved a table for 7pm giving us plenty of time to be ready for doors opening at 8.30.
On our way to the vaporetta we got an opportunity to experience some of the Biennale 2013 which was on everywhere in Venice. We stumbled on the work of Simon Ma from Shanghai.
Then we got a vaporetto to Ferrovaria and I managed to get about an hour's rest before heading out.
The concert was great
and we vaporettaed home.
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