Goodbye Venice

  My amazing trip to Venice has come to a close. 

Last night I went to the bookstore and found that it had been recommended to so many people, and it is considered one of the top 10 attractions in Venice.  I would have enjoyed it more had it not been quite so crowded.  There was almost an organizational structure, but it was mostly a pile of books on another pile of books... etc.  I didn't succeed in finding anything to buy, which is probably for the best.

After the bookshop I wandered into a section of Venice I hadn't been to yet.  There was one long road with many bars and small restaurants on the canal.  This seemed to be the place to drink beer as a 20-something year old, but I succeeded in finding a fairly quiet trattoria and had a nice dinner on the canal.  Of course, I was quite cold by the end and was a bit concerned about my cell phone battery lasting me long enough to find my way home.  I succeeded, of course, and was happy to have a good night's sleep after walking over 10 miles that day.

Today I had two goals: (1) see St Mark's Basilica and (2) to La Fenice.  Since it was Sunday, I couldn't get into St. Mark's until after 2 PM.  Hence, I started with La Fenice.  It is Venice's opera house, and therefore one of the most important opera houses in the world.  It was absolutely beautiful - and there was a nice audioguide walking us through the history.  While the opera house is well over 100 years old, it had a major fire in the 1800's and another in the 1990's.  Hence, it is newly refurbished - but a serious attempt was made to restore it to the original condition.  Maybe one shouldn't start off by naming a building after a creature that repeatedly catches fire (fenice=pheonix).

After the Opera House I still had a few hours to spare before St. Marks would open.  I hopped on the water bus with the intent to a stop or two past St. Marks to see a new part of Venice.  I didn't know what I would find, but I hoped to get a reasonably good lunch farther from the main tourist area. 

The first thing I found was the Maritime Museum, which appeared to be closed.  However, there was a "ship's pavilion" that was open - and that was amazing.  They had a range of boats on display, including Venician canal/lagoon boats, military boats, and fishing boats.  They had the steam room of a large freighter - reading the sign, I learned this was the ship where Marconi perfected his radio techniques!  Neat!  I love boats, as do the Venicians. 

After the big room-of-boats, I found a Sicilian restaurant for lunch.  It was good and took the right amount of time.  I got to St. Mark's square just as the church was opening.  The Basilica is big and the inside is covered in phenomenal mosaic work.  I think this is the style that the Stanford Church was trying to copy!  The treasury was filled with amazing Byzantine treasures and an incredible array of relics.  However, the main area of the church was very crowded - there was only a single path for tourists to snake through, so it was hard to stop and get a really good luck at things.

However, the Basilica has a huge museum upstairs that provides amazing views (close up!) of many of the mosaics.  It was fairly empty, including the loggia that overlooks the square.  I enjoyed having more space and time to enjoy the church, which is certainly on the same level as Milan's duomo, but in a very different style. 

Finally I wandered back to the hotel, getting back a bit earlier than necessary.  I headed down the Piazza and discovered a NASA/ESA-sponsored art exhibit!  Pictures from Hubble were mixed with space-inspired Italian artwork (made for the exhibition).  It felt like a very poetic way to end my trip to Venice, an appropriate symbol of the synthesis of my time in Italy: beautiful science and beautiful Italy.