All of you Shakespeare fans will have made the connection that The Merchant of Venice takes place in Venice, but do you recall which play was set in Padua. That’s right—Taming of the Shrew. Well, Our absolutely perfect day trip to Padua began with gelato at 9:30 in the morning. We were the first ones into the shop and it is a good thing there are a lot of Gelaterias in Venice as we probably can’t go back there again. Dad did not make a new friend using up all of his small change to pay for our cones😄 Primarily we went to Padua to see The Scrovegni Chapel. It is over 700 years old. Giotto completed painting the frescoes around 1305. It is considered an important masterpiece of Western Art. Tickets sell out months in advance as they only let 25 people at a time and you only get 15 minutes in the chapel. We planned ahead. Our time slot was for 1 o’clock—we were anxiously lined up at the door to be the first ones in. Was it worth it? Honestly, I was instantly choked up. The colours are so vibrant. It is intimate, personal—you are so close to each painting. The emotions in the biblical stories are so real—honest. Repeatedly I am asked what my favourite moment has been on this trip. We have seen so many varied things that they are hard to compare, but I know without a doubt I will never forget the moment I first saw the Scrovegni Chapel. You are Always in my Prayers. Love Mom.
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My brain was definitely in overload at St. Mark’s Basilica. The interior (you can’t take pictures) is covered with mosaics and tourists. You are not sure where to look or where to step. Then we climbed up to the loggia, where far fewer tourist go, and it was like we were in the heavens. We were right next to the most amazing mosaics and there was a terrace open to the outside where we could stand with the bronze horses and look over St Mark’s square. The tourists looked like tiny specs.
St Mark’s is famous for more than its Mosaics. In 828 AD relics were more than just religious symbols. A city that had a significant relic had prestige and power. Two Venetian merchants headed off to Alexandria to “rescue” the relics of St Mark. Legend has it that they were smuggled to Venice in a pork barrel. The rest is history and the reason for so many lion statues—the symbol of St Mark. Still Loving Venice and Gelato. You are Always in my Prayers. Love Mom. Just returned after watching the sunset from the Rialto Bridge. I still can’t believe we are actually spending the week in Venice—definitely a dream come true. We were up and down the Grand Canal today seeing as many things as we could fit in a day, but probably the most well known site we saw was the Dodge’s Palace.
Dodges were the elected leaders of Venice until the 1700’s. They had a lot of power and ruled until they died. Well, at least that was the plan. Some were exiled and others helped along to an untimely death. While they were ruling though their job included making sure that justice was applied in Venice. Everyone had a say and there was even a mailbox type thing called the Boche de Leon (mouth of the lion) where all citizens could slip in a written complaint. Being a Dodge actually seemed like a pretty complicated and enormous job, but they did get to live in a spectacular palace. The art was amazing. Another ton of things to see tomorrow. You are Always in My Prayers. Love Mom. A rainy day in Venice. Our cute little VRBO is just over 100 steps from the Grand Canal. We’ve got our Venice and Vaporetto Passes and are ready to hit the ground running tomorrow. We did a little orientation walk of St Mark’s square just to soak up a bit of the atmosphere—and with this rain I mean we were literally soaking up Venice. Half the fun was taking our grunting and chugging Vaperetto down to the city centre and back again to our St. Toma stop. Of course gelato is easily consumed even in the rain. Today’s flavour was Dolce Latte. You are Always in my Prayers. Love Mom. |
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Ray & Diane
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