` Friday, September 23: Venice

Friday, September 23: Venice

  1. We disembark our vaporetto, which we took from the train station to San Marcos, and I spied a line-up of gondolas floating on the glass-green canal next to the pastry-perfect castles and under the gentle blue puffy sky. (Block that metaphor!)

  2. The cathedral isn't immersed in water, yet, it's just the angle. The days of rising sea-level will concern the Venetian city fathers and mothers.

  3. She is so beautiful, our cathedral. They are so chokingly numerous, our fellow-tourists feeding pigeons.

  4. The long long long row of three-tiered arches lining San Marcos Square. Be still, my heart. Enough arches for leftovers.

  5. The bell tower and San Marcos.

  6. The photographer seems to have a skewed view on things. San Marcos isn't really listing sea-ward.

  7. A beautiful and iconic streetlamp, with other stuff providing the Art Shot(tm) ambience.

  8. The streetlamp; with architectural backdrop. (Is this the Doge's Palace? You'd think I'd know, after a 3-hour tour there.)

  9. The lion of Venice. I wonder when Venice decided the lion was its symbol, and how exactly they decided that?

  10. When you needed to fib on someone and turn him in - here was the Secret Mouth for your secret letter.

  11. Glinting light, silver on blue, one of the gifts of Venice.

  12. After our 3-hour tour of the secret places in the Doge's Palace, we walked over the Bridge of Sighs and Sorrows. This is a view peeking from sorrow onto freedom.

  13. On the exterior of the Doge's Palace, support-group knight-style.

  14. I love the dusty red against the pearly white.

  15. If you squint, you can make out the three sides of the square's imposing walls (in back of the tourists). (I admit, we are also tourists.)

  16. Lovely arches.

  17. Rose-colored lenses for the streetlights make it all seem all right.

  18. A gondolier in trademark blue-and-white striped shirt. This is NOT another picture of a rose streetlight, or beautiful villas standing stately over the canal.

  19. Beautiful ladies of Venice. I'll take the small yellow one on the left, please.

  20. An attempt to capture the most famous bridge, Ponte di Rialto, but actually capturing mooring poles.

  21. Ah to be young and male and running a speedbaot through the canals in Venice.

  22. Gray and silver, sunset never comes. The light bounces from wave to wave and is never dissipated.

  23. We walked from the Doge's Palace (San Marcos Square) back to the train station, meandering up and down and over many bridges.

  24. I got lucky with the pink mirrored in the canal. Believe me, that was not planned. Venice blows you shy kisses like this.

  25. We are unexpectedly back at San Marcos ... I guess the preceding walk was from Rialto to San Marcos. Now we're to head back to the train station where our van is parked.

  26. This has the looks of a fortress.

  27. The gilded lion on San Marcos cathedral.

  28. Do not adjust your sets. We have horizontal-head-modern-art. A kid was playing inside, but just as I got out my camera, he disappeared into the neck cavity. Before that, you could see him peeking out one of the eyes.

  29. Hmm. MacOS 9 sickly yellow Mona Lisa in Venice. I am not sure why.

  30. Headless heads and shutterless windows. And shuttered windows, and open shutters, and ...

  31. It was a picture-postcard day.

  32. The littlest splashes of color somehow paint the whole building.

  33. Marilyn, and Dick, are moving heaven and earth to get a copy of this poster! "Cat eating pizza", although I think it's really "Cat eating salami".

  34. A stupid picture. Or an Art Shot(tm)! Your call. Goodby, Venice.

Marianne Mueller
Last modified: October 10, 2005