I forgot to tell you how wonderful our "hostel" is here. We have private rooms sleeping two people each. This is a nice improvement from our hostel in Milan which slept 6, so we had two roommates with us. It was fine for us, but I felt bad for them as we had early morning departures that I am sure disturbed their sleep.
The Milan hostel was huge, stark white, and very clean. I had no problems showering or using the bathrooms there--I can be kind of germ phobic, a result of many years of using sterile technique and germ awareness as a nurse. However, the hostel seemed very spartan.
In contrast, our room here actually had centuries old frescos on the wall, two balconies- as we had a corner room- that opened out to views of the canal and the beautiful roof garden across from us. We were in heaven. :~) Kayla and Meg shared the other room, which we thought would be right next door. But no. They had a very special room up a narrow staircase right above us. Their room was very cute and had two balconies as well. We really just kept pinching ourselves.
My philosophy about traveling is that where you sleep is only that, where you sleep and you should spend your money on staying longer! I only require that they are clean and safe. I really did not have grand expectations for this place, although it came recommended, and it was one of the cheapest place I could find in Venice. Venice is a VERY expensive city and our hostel rooms cost us twice as much as the rooms in Milan. They were worth it though!
Today, we went to San Marco Square. It is named San Marco because way back when in 830 AD, the Venetians stole the remains of St. Mark and brought them here. We started off at the Doge's palace. Doge means duke, and for city states like Venice, they were effectively the kings.
The palace was spectacular! I want to be Doge when I grow up! Or maybe his daughter so that I don't have to work and can simply enjoy the luxury around me. There was room after room after room of exquisite painting, statues, gilded ceilings, carved wood trim, etc. This was defiantly a spoiled monarch and Queen Elizabeth has nothing on him. So, I guess seeing one palace does not mean you have seen them all. And these rooms had no furniture and much of the painting and gilding had worn off.
The Doge was *extremely* powerful as Venice was so powerful and important. In fact, St. Mark's Basilica was originally the Doge's personal family chapel. He had a door that opened directly into the basilica and he had his own pulpit that he could climb the stairs to and then address the public during any public services. It was only somewhat lower than the priest's pulpit.
I decided at St. Mark's that if I were to become a Christian, I would rather be the Orthodox version rather than the Latin version. They both build their churches in cross shapes, but the Orthodox version has all four sides equal in length and the whole design is built with perfect circles and squares. This is to celebrate the beauty, wonder, and perfection of the world God created. The Latin cross, in contrast, symbolizes the sins of mankind and Jesus dying to save us from those sins.
The Basilica was a wonderful mix of East and West, Europe and the Byzantine Empire. They combined the architecture and decorations of both the Muslim and Christian traditions. I liked that. There were tons of mosaics with gold mosaic backgrounds. The overall effect was quite stunning. To give you an idea, the basilica has 4,750 square *yards* of mosaics.
After we toured the church, we went up to the museum. It is most famous for having the bronze horses that were originally on top of San Marco. They were made around 400 BCE, during the time of Alexander the Great. The Venetians confiscated them from Constantinople and are quite proud of them. The view from the balcony of the basilica was fabulous.
After we stopped and had lunch, we wandered around the crooked streets of Venice. What a treat. If you only stay in the touristy area, you will miss the real Venice. We decided we had gotten away from the touristy area when we passed a funeral store. It so was lovely and really, only pictures can do it any justice. Megan and Kayla retired to the hostel early to have a little down time and Anne and I kept exploring. We thought about our mom as we explored and how this was just the thing that she liked to do the most-- get off the beaten path and see more of the authentic parts where the people actually live.
We finished off our day with another Vaporetto ride down the Grand Canal. One thing that I learned on our Grand Canal cruise is that the reason the buildings here are four stories is very simple. The ground floor is where the cargo would go. The first floor would be the business offices. The second floor was where the family would live and they had the largest windows and balconies. The top floor was for the servants where it would be cold in the winter and sweltering in the summer with their small windows....
I will be sad to leave Venice tomorrow. If we had one more day, I probably would have taken a boat to two of the smaller islands to see where they make lace and blow glass--two of the things that Venice is known for!
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