Venice Day 2!

Our second day in Venezia was amazing. We really love this sinking city. After having a good and hearty breakfast at our hotel, (10€ for both of us, not bad) we headed out to the museums at St. Mark’s Square. After making our way through all of the chubby pigeons, we entered the Museo Correr. It held beautiful sculptures and paintings by Italian artists of various movements. We saw a painting rendering Cupid and Psyche. Also, Venere Italica, or Italian Venus, was represented in a beautiful portrait. The ceilings in several rooms were adorned with the typical gold-leaf and Renaissance-style paintings on several subjects. One room in particular included a representation of the Greek myths of several gods. Through the Museo Correr, we were able to enter the Archeological museum and the Library museum.

The archeological museum allowed us to glimpse into the past as it is home to many Greek, Egyptian, Etruscan and even some Mesopotamian artifacts. We saw many statues and busts of the Greek gods, Athena, Apollo, Zeus just to name a few. In the Egyptian room, we even saw two mummies. We were very surprised to see that in Italy, we would find Egyptian artifacts. A very interesting room included years and years of coinage from the Venetian empire dating back several hundreds of years. Some of the coins were very big, which are what lead Cindy to ask, “Is that why they used to carry sacks?” Try going to Vons with a coin the size of a personal pan pizza! A highlight of the museums included the opportunity to see the armor of the knights that roamed Italy in its past. The men must have been tiny because several of the chest-plates and waists were very small. We even had the opportunity to see a pair of metal foot protectors- very reminiscent of “Crocs,” maybe thats where they come from- the middle ages! We also had the chance to see yet another collection of Madonnas. I will leave it at that. I believe that by the time we arrive back home, we will have seen the majority of the Madonnas in Italy alone. There are really that many and they are everywhere. We were able to see the collection of busts at the Library like that of Julius Caesar among others, and several interesting sculptures such as Leda and Zeus (Zeus of course was sculpted as the goose that seduced her). We also saw some of the books in their collection.

After walking the entire museum (first and second floors), we were feeling so adventurous and lucky that we decided to walk it to La Galleria dell’Academia. We wanted to see more of Da Vinci’s works, mostly the Virtruvian Man, or the Peruvian Man (our name for him). After a granite, a slushy type drink, and a brief rest on one of the many bridges, we made it. Unfortunately for us, we only made it to the door because it was 1:30 p.m. a half hour before closing time. It wasn’t until we found out that the Vetruvian Man is off limits to the general public, that we became sad. Oh well, we cannot assume that all will work out the way we want it too, right? So, we made the most of the rest of the day and walked to the beautiful Cathedral of Santa Maria del Rosario. We were only allowed a glimpse inside because like many of the churches in Italy, there is a fee to enter. Yes, they charge to enter the house of God. We suppose it’s a good way to distinguish those who want to attend mass from tourists with fanny packs and cameras. Go figure! We decided to go to the island of Murano instead.

We made it to Murano after an hour on the Vaporetto, the boat bus. Everyone was eager to get to the island and see the famous glass blowers of Murano. We went to the Museo dell’ Arte Vetraria, or the glass museum. We saw amazing pieces dating back to the first century. It was impressive to see the raw materials that are used in the process of glass-blowing, as well as to learn about the process itself. Sadly, we weren’t lucky enough to see a demonstration of glassblowing, it does give us a reason to come back though! We were able to go into several shops and see the wonderous creations of the many artisans on the island though. It really was a treat!
After Murano, we headed back to St. Mark’s Square on Venice, where Cindy finally had the chance to do the second thing on her list (number one was the bridge of sighs), feed the pidgeons! It was a little scary because one doesn’t know where they have been. Ah, Cindy did it anyway and it was fun! Cindy fed them, and Pox took her picture and headed straight to a bathroom to wash our hands. Cindy loves animals, but has been pooped on enough by them this year. After the intense hand washing, we went to eat dinner—don’t worry, we used utencils. Dinner was at a small pasticceria, where we had light fare, Pox had a mozzarella and tomato panini, and Cindy, a veggie foccacia. We walked off our dinner by walking back to St. Mark’s, stopping by a candy store on the way, so that we could find an art vendor. We did, and we were able to buy two watercolor paintings for a great price! We left the island with two one-of-a-kind keepsakes.