Day 3

Today I awoke at 4am—better than yesterday. We had breakfast about 8am and then went to St. Mark’s to tour the Doge’s Palace. The Doge was the one chose to represent all of the ruling parties. Much was done to impress and intimidate the visiting dignitaries. The first was the stairway of the giants. This is a tall staircase flanked by statues of Mercury and Poseidon. The Doge never came down the stairs; those visiting had to climb them. The next wonder is the golden staircase. The ceilings of the staircase are designed with ornate carvings, paintings, and gold leaf. It was my understanding that I could not take photos inside the palace, so I checked my camera. But, apparently, that was only in certain areas. There were many who were taking photos and were not stopped by the attendants.
After wandering the ornate palace for several hours we had lunch at a sandwich shop recommended in Rick Steves, book and then returned to the hotel to rest and store more purchases.
I wanted to see the Grand Canal and the Rialto Bridge. My plan was to walk to the bridge take pictures, see the market and return by vaporetto (water bus) to St. Mark’s. Unfortunately, the vaporetto operators scheduled Friday to strike. I wanted to use the vaporetto so we could get a break from walking. Some of the party were not doing well with all of the walking, plus we had climbed and descended many stairs in the palace (what, no elevators?). We invited everyone to go, but mom and Misty declined. The front desk clerk marked the way to the bridge and we set out for the “short” walk.
The maps for Venice are inaccurate at best. Rick Steves says to just enjoy getting lost in Venice. Well did we get lost! We ended up at St. Mark’s; which is not a big deal, one can just follow the markers to Rialto Bridge. The only problem is that there were times when the markers disappeared or times when there were two different markers pointing different directions. We weren’t the only ones lost. Many people had their maps out trying to figure out which way to go. At one point there was another American couple we visited with who wasn’t sure which way to go. I told them which direction I was taking and they said they had just gone that way and decided to turn back and go a different direction. I stepped into a pizzeria and asked which way to Rialto. The pizza maker indicated the direction I was going. I stepped out to inform the other couple, but they were already gone. We saw the bridge and as I was taking pictures from another angle, Becky talked to a gondolier about taking a gondola ride.
The cost was E 80 for the four of us. Getting into the gondola was a trip! As I stepped in it felt like it was going to tip over. Our gondolier has been operating a gondola for 32 years and is a fourth generation gondolier. He took us through the narrow canals and pointed out buildings important to Venice. There were times when the gondola would come within millimeters of other boats and yet he never struck anything. It was a nice, relaxing time off our feet. After the gondola ride we walked through the market. We found cups of freshly cut fruit and berries. I found a bratwurst and there was more shopping.
After the market we made out attempt to get back to the hotel. I followed the directions back to the hotel and thought we had reached the church we were looking for, but something wasn’t quite right. We pressed forward and I was uncomfortable, so we turned back to the church. We saw a kiosk and I asked the operator if he spoke English. He did not, but when I showed him my map and pointed to it, he made a mark to indicate where we were. We had been going the opposite direction we should have and were WAY out of our way! I saw how we could get back to where we had dinner the night before and was sure we could back from that point. When we finally arrived there and started back to the hotel, I started to second guess my sense of direction. The afternoon had been spent backtracking so often that I had the women stay where they were and I went ahead to be sure we were on the right track. I passed a German couple as I reached the point where I knew we were in the right place. As I returned to the women, I came upon the couple again and they were consulting their map. I asked if they were lost and we talked about how to get to Rialto. I told them I could get them to the church and from that point there were signs to direct them to Rialto. They followed me back and thanked me as they went on their way.
On the way back to the hotel from that point we stopped at a restaurant by a canal to have dinner so we wouldn’t have to go back out. I started back to the hotel on my own to get mom and Misty to bring them back for dinner. As I came out the door of the restaurant, they called to me. They were returning from the grocery store. We thought we were eating at one of the restaurants recommended by Rick Steves but after we were done we realized we were right next to it. I was glad to know that because the food was only fair and very expensive (because we were next to the canal).
After returning to the hotel, mom Misty and I went to St. Mark’s to go to the ATM. We got there and found that it was locked for the night (we learned the next day that we should have pushed rather than pulled on the door). On the way we had the clearest view of one of the cathedrals across the Riva we had had yet. I went back to the hotel to get my camera and monopod to take some photos. I had better results resting the camera on the bridge. By the time I got back to the room I was exhausted, hit the bed and went directly to sleep.