We went into San Marco's basilica. The GOLD! It's beautiful inside. Wrapped my scarf around my shoulders and hoped my knee-length shorts would meet the security's approval. They did. Some tips from tour guides walking next to us: 1. The peacocks represent resurrection. 2. The columns in the church are very unusual and were brought from Istria as the ballast of the ship. They are more an eastern European look, but this is still a very typical Roman Catholic church. 3. They have mass every Sunday morning and the church is closed off to the public. 4. Along the back benches and columns where people have sat over the centuries, there is a darker brown line from people's heads rubbing against the marble behind them. EWWW!
Sitting in San Marco's square enjoying a caffe americano while listening to a quintet. It's absolutely lovely! I'm getting out Dad's accordian when I get home. Used to play it a little back in the day. I'll have to learn a few Italian classics. Anne wants me to mention that she and Mom are having the best tea here! She's having chamomile and Mom's having regular black tea. Splendid.
Ummm...completely forgot to mention that we fed the pigeons again!
We enjoyed lunch under/beside the Rialto bridge. Really good pizza! Then we walked over the bridge, took some pics and went to explore the markets. We missed the fish and vegetable market by about 20 minutes, so will have to go tomorrow morning.
Enjoyed the rest of the afternoon browsing the shops. Mom spotted a cute teapot and went back to get it when the store reopened at 3:30pm. On our way back to the hotel we looked for some dinner spots Mom had read about. Some of the numbers were in the wrong places on her map. We later found one of the restaurants half way from our hotel to the square, which on Mom's map looked like it was in San Marco's square.
We ended up finding a great restaurant by our hotel. It was family owned and operated (mom, dad, sister & brother). Their aunt and uncle own the hotel next door. The sister and brother kept us entertained. She was quite a bit older and kept yelling at her brother to do something. Hard to figure out what was really going on. By the end they were both laughing and joking with us beside our table. Should've taken a picture of them. We were equally entertained by the group of 3 couples sitting behind Mom and Dad. They clapped and sang until their food came, when the Italian brother came over and said, "Enough with the music. Here's your food." (In Italian, of course.) It was pretty funny, but you totally had to be there!
Anne headed back to the hotel, while Mom, Dad and I went for a stroll to check out San Marco at night. Stopped by the Rialto as well. It was nice. Nothing lit up too much though.
Returned to the hotel to find Anne watching "Dirty Dancing" in German. She pretty much knew it word for word and translated for me as I wrote my few postcards.
Buona notte!
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