We were rudely interrupted by the 6:30 alarm. I (Leif) tried to quickly dress & get out the door before Bonnie was totally awake. Of course, the street noises were going to start pretty soon anyway.
Off I went for some early AM shots. My aim was to get an early morning shot in San Marco Square before all of the damn tourists showed up. I was in luck….only a few people cleaning up the square & opening some shops. The lights were still on around the top of the buildings, so I managed to get one before the lights were turned out. I quickly went from there to the gondola berths along the San Marco docks, to get a couple of shots before it got too bright. Success!
That was enough other than getting some shots on the way back to the hotel. Wow, did I get turned around!! I found myself at, or close to, the Rialto bridge twice!! I insist that I wasn’t lost, since you can’t get lost on an island. Anyway, it took me about an hour to find my way back. Oh, did I mention that it was raining lightly for a good part of that time? By the time I got back, I was wet, tired, sore feet, but a short lie down & a shower got me back to normal.
After breakfast, after 11:00, off we went again for more exploring. The major thing we did yesterday, for at least 2 hours, was tour the Doges Palace. The architecture & the artwork was nothing short of awesome & overwhelming. To think that most of what was in there dated back to the 14th century. Some of the artwork & statues were under restoration. What a skill that would take!
When we left the Doges, I was going to take the elevator ride up the bell tower. I stood in line for a while & hadn’t even made it to the ticket booths, so I bailed on that plan. We made our way back to the hotel to put our feet up for a while before going out for dinner. We were meeting up with another photographer friend, from the Richmond Hill Camera Club, and his wife – Dass & Jill. Dass is in Venice for an 8-day photography workshop with Richard Martin, a photographer from Kingston.
We had arranged to meet in the centre of San Marco, so it was no problem finding each other. We planned on a quick dinner, since they had arrived around noon. They were very tired & mostly wanted to get back to their hotel for some catch-up sleep.
It was a little cooler today with light rain off & on, but nothing to stop us from enjoying the day. The food has been wonderful!
It had been a long day for us too, so we went back to the hotel, laid down to read for a while & didn’t get back up. Lights out…..gone for the night!
No time to get pics ready for today. They’ll be added tomorrow.
Early Morning at San Marco
Dancing Gondolas
Doges Palace
