San Marco

Ok, last night continued… We walked around Campo San Barnaba and found a supermercato. Very different than our Marsh or Walmart you can bet. Everything is small and expensive. A liter of milk was over €3. We also stopped canal side to buy apples and pears from a salesman in a boat.

Today after everyone got up we decided to go to Piazza San Marco. Jacob spent most of his time there trying to convince the pigeons that they were more afraid of him than he was of them. LOL, Sadly they were NOT! Beck had a fine time chasing them for a while. We had a laugh over the fact that someone has the job of going around all day telling people that they can’t sit down in San Marco either. She’d no sooner move down the line than people would start sitting down again. Talk about useless.

We roamed the area for a while to find someplace to eat and then ended up in a pizza restaurant/burger king of all places. It had someplace to sit down though and since Delaney had forgotten to take her lactaid the Burger King came in handy. It was hard to pay €6 for a grilled chicken combo though. Nearly everything at San Marco was double the price of elsewhere in Venice. A €20 t-shirt at San Marco was €12 just a few blocks away.

San Marco itself was nearly indescribable. I expected the square to be completely packed since that’s how I’ve always heard it described. There were a lot of people but it was not overly crowded at all. We arrived at the traditional Italian lunch time and there was a tiny line to get inside the basilica. Their rules for entry are no joke. We saw them turn a couple of people away for inappropriate clothing. (In case you ever wondered, you should leave your Iron Maiden shirt at home. ) Jacob got asked to remove his ball cap too.

I hope to eventually be able to load some of the photos we took from outside San Marco. Our internet connection is slow and tenuous at best here. I got what I hope are some great pictures of the statues and frescos on the front of the building. It’s hard to imagine the time and detail that it took to put in each little piece of each huge mosaic by hand. There are no photos allowed inside so I will have to buy some.

Inside the basilica is just one of those “WOW” moments. I completely forgot every piece of art history I ever learned. You don’t even know where to look. The tiling on the floor is gorgeous, the woodwork and or course all the golden mosaics are just incredible. The basilica is free but I also paid the €2 to see the Golden Altar. It was very ornate and I really wished that I could have a picture. Not worth getting yelled at by the officials though. LOL

We did have a laugh though over how uneven the floor is inside the basilica. I had read in a tour book that the foundation was solid but the floor was uneven. I expected “a little uneven.” This was more “great rolling hills.”

It took us about 20 minutes to get from our apartment to San Marco. We saw lots of little interesting piazzas with shops and fountains. Beck it most of the way without being carried. Venice is definitely not a stroller city. He did really well. He came back and took a nap while the rest of us had gelato. I have no idea how you would survive in Venice if you were wheel chair bound. Some of the main bridges have lifts but most of the smaller ones do not.

Tonight we went over to Campo San Margherita for dinner. We ate at a sidewalk ristorante. John had some sort of tortellini and I had gnocchi with gorgonzola. The kids, of course, had pizza. Jacob’s looked really good. It had artichokes and mushrooms on it.

Tomorrow we’ll probably do the Accademia and some other places of interest. John is reading the guide book right now. Don’t expect pictures of the Accademia though since it’s covered in scaffolding. Many buildings around town are at the moment.