An American Family in Italy: Venice Day Two

Today (saturday two weeks ago), was our second day in Venice and we decided that today we would go to the Doge's Palace and Saint Mark's Basilica. We started the morning by going to the Doges Palace because it's line was significantly shorter, just a few people. We got our tickets and were directed into the courtyard. We followed signs until we went up a staircase. But before we could go up, Dad had to put our backpack in a special place. We then went up the stairs, which were lavishly decorated with gold. We walked into a room with lots of benches for the important council of leaders that once ran the city of Venice. We walked through many incredible rooms full of ornately decorated ceilings and with paintings all over the walls. We then got to the biggest room of all, where many important decisions were once made. On the wall is the biggest oil painting in the whole world, and it is very very big. I liked the fact that everything was considered important enough to decorate so intensely. We were not allowed to take pictures inside but we could in the courtyard and off of the balconies in the huge hall. We also went to an area with lots of maps of the Venetian's fortresses around the Mediterranean Sea. I had never realized that they were a huge power. Then we left the large room and were led by signs towards the dungeons. Before we arrived at the dungeon, we went across the famous bridge of sighs, were the prisoners being led to the dungeons would get there last view of the Venetian Lagoon through it's bars. The dungeon was huge so we did not see it all, but we saw many rather dismal cells, with ancient graffiti on them. It was really cool. We also got to go into a cell, which was awesome. We went out of the Doges Palace and headed out to get a snack. We all were hungry so we went to go get some lunch. After lunch, we decided to wait until later in the afternoon to go to the basilica because of the huge line. We walked around the streets and visited the Venice Ferrari Store. We had originally wanted to go to the island of Murano, famous for its glass blowing, but instead went to their workshop on the main island in Venice. It was large and everything was very beautiful and very expensive. At about three we headed back to Piazza San Marco to go to the Basilica. Sure enough the line was much shorter and we got in without any problem. When we got in, we were amazed. To me, the best part was the ceiling which was made of gold mosaics, the tiles about the size of a thumbnail, the fact that it was ever finished is amazing to me. Every one of the mosaic covered domes in the church have biblical stories on them, meant to teach the masses that could not read. The church was originally called the basilica San Theodore, but later on, the Venetians took the body of dead Saint Mark and brought it here were it stills rests. We took a while in the church and it was worth waiting to go in. When we got out we were really hungry so we stopped and got some gelato. It was nice. We headed home for the night. Then Hailey and Dad went out to get us a pizza for dinner. It was really good. I'll post again soon. Some photos courtesy of Hailey Elizabeth Harple.