Beautiful weather for sightseeing today. After breakfast at the hotel, we headed to nine o’clock mass at Basilica di San Marco (St. Mark}. Mass was in Italian. There were less than 100 people there for the service. Since the basilica is closed for serices, this gave us a chance to see the basilica without the crowds. The remains of St. Mark, gospel author, are here. The church was built in Byzantium style during the 11th century. It contains no paintings but mosaics and is filled wih materials looted from the Venetian empire.

From there, it was to the nearby Doge’s Palace. The Doge was the ruling duke. The palace included many rooms for the government and the prison. In the Hall of the Grand Council is the largest oil painting in the world, Paradise by Tintoretto.

The next stop was the Correr Museum. After getting museumed out on sculpture (me not Dolora), we headed to the Frari Church to see a different stye. This is the Franciscan basilca. It contains some beautifull oil paintings in their original setting.

Dolora and I made an unsucessful atempt at taking a boatride tour of the Grand Canal. Not quite understandinig the boat stations, we got on to a very crowded express boat by mistake.

We made it back to the hotel for a meeting with the tour leader and other members of the tour group .The tour only includes hotel and transportation but the guide is helpful for questions and suggestions. The group took a walk to the Rialto Bridge and we headed to a late dinner with another couple. A gelato stop on the way back and we are calling it a day.

Venice Album

Food In Italy Album