04 October 2013 Friday – Airplane

Today is our last full day in Venice. Skip is feeling better, so we're back on schedule. The weather is getting cold here, so we had to bundle up in warmer clothes. Contrast that to Rome a few days ago where I was dripping in sweat!

As we walked back toward the Rialto bridge, I took a few photos, like the “Golden Statue” that had confused us a couple days ago.

From the Rialto bridge, we took a water bus back toward San Marcos square, on a mission to take a gondola ride. A gondola ride is cliché, but it's one of those things that you just have to do if you're in Venice. It's so common, that there are lots and lots of gondoliers and gondolas around town. They all wear these striped shirts that make me think of the children's game “Where's Waldo?” So there were lots of Waldos around town.

So we found a gondolier and piled into his gondola. Then he spent an hour taking us around town in his boat. It was fun. The unusual thing is that he had to keep his boat leaning to the right. I didn't like that; I'm used to boats that are completely upright. A few times, he told me I was throwing the balance of the boat off because I wasn't letting it lean properly!

After our gondola ride, we visited the Doge's residence, which was a very fancy building. It was part castle, complete with a prison for criminals. The other part was a residence for the Doge, the political leader in Venice back during the Renaissance. Part of it was like a parliamentary hall, where laws were made, etc. The place was decorated with many fantastic paintings. Unbelievable! As before, we couldn't get photos of the paintings inside; but we got photos of the outside. Kathy had bought special tickets that gave us a tour of the “hidden” palace. In other words, we got to see the prison, secret stairways and special rooms that normal tours don't get to see.

Once again, we had to finish with ice cream.