Brody, Mom, Dad, and I started off this morning with a run to the fish market. On the way we saw the normal trinket stores and pastry shops. And one that sold horse meat. It looks like every other kind of meat and I never will need to know what it tastes like.
We could definitely smell the fish market before we saw it. I've never seen such a large collection of dead fish. There were some really big ones too! We ended up buying some white fish and hoped it tasted good, because we couldn't read the sign that told what type it was.
On the way back there were more scenic pic opportunities!!
After a hard morning of "studying" the girls joined us to have church touring time. In every place we go, we tour every local church, cathedral, basilica, etc. They are all beautiful, and ornate, but I've learned that there is a whole lot that I don't understand about the catholic faith. To make the church tours more interesting than just a pretty building, I try to learn something unique about each one. Luckily most provide little history pamphlets, and those who don't most likely have a summary from Rick Steve. What a great guy. Today our first cathedral was Santa Maria dei Miracoli. The guy who built this one was really into Saint Frances, St. Clara, and this really important painting of the Madonna with her child. In fact the whole thing was built for this painting of the Madonna. Next, we went to Santa Maria Formosa. This cathedral was built perfectly symmetrical and housed the body of yet another saint that I don't know, but she had a cool skeleton. Our next church was St. Marks.
It had a lot of gold decoration and Rick Steve told us all about the artwork on the inside. We kind of just looked around and nodded like we saw exactly what was being described. Of course that looks like people finding St. Marks remains in a column...
These are some local kids adding to the festive look of the town by throwing paper on the ground. Every day I notice more and more people taking part in the Carnevale di Venezia. Many people, both tourists and locals, wear masks around, and I saw at least 10 people dressed up in full ball gown costumes.
The museum/church/palace passes we bought for Venice included the Doge Palace. We learned all about what a doge was and walked through a countless number of rooms. Apparently the family did not want to read through the summaries of each room as thoroughly as I did, and I was quickly left behind. Too bad they'll never know why the bust of the Doge Rainer by the fire place in that one room was so special and I will! We also toured the prison of the Doge. The palace and the prison are separated by the Bridge of Sighs. And yes, I sighed on the Bridge of Sighs. This is where the prisoners would have their last glance of the outside world before years and years of living in a stone cell.
Before heading home we stopped into one last church, San Zachariah. I actually know a little bit about this Saint. He was the father of John the Baptist and these are supposedly his bones.
Our walk home included many street performers and more masked people getting ready to do whatever Venetians do on Friday nights during the Carnevale.
And Scarlet helped decorate a little...
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