June 20

We bought 24-hour vaporetto tickets at 9:40 a.m. The water taxi is lots cheaper than a gondola but nobody is on board to sing an aria. We never missed it. We observe hundreds of gondolas. They are beautiful. I guess the thing that bothers me about the things I have read about them is all the talk about how hard they are to operate. Well, lots of jobs are hard. I think reaching for that kind of sympathy is for the birds. Besides if I get desperate for a gondola ride I can contact the gondolier who studied in Venice and pumps his boat up and down the St. Croix River in Minnesota.

There were several places we wanted to visit this trip which does not include the usual popular places like San Marco and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. A beautiful basilica and a terrific collection but been there. Our first stop was the Santa Maria Della Salute. We had been on the doorstep on our previous trip but could not enter as we missed-calculated the hours it was open. This time we went there first. I was not going to miss it. During the Plague in 1630 the Venetian Senate promised if God would stop the plague that killed about a third of Venice's population they would build a church dedicated to Mary. The plague stopped and they followed up on their promise. I had read about the spectacular tilings on the floor. True. It felt wonderful to stand in the middle of those tiles and the spacious octagonal cavern and turn, turn, turn to look in every direction. That lucky dog Baldassare Longhena designed the massive structure using Venetian Byzantine architectures and a St. Peter's-style dome when he was 26. Wow. Did he have help? Hard to believe that some historian thought him to be insecure. This solid Istrian stone and marmorino structure has been standing on 100,000 piles since 1681. Longhena died a year later. Probably starved to death waiting to be paid. Artworks by Tintoretto, Titian and Longhena accentuate various areas of the interior.

After this one we mounted the Grand Canel once more on the vaporetto to San Toma' where we walked a short distance to find the Scoula Grande di San Rocco. Jacopo Tintoretto, after winning a competition, spent 23 years decorating the guild hall. At the entrance we paid our entry which included one of those teacher tapes that you wear on your head and listen to while imagining the pain of painting at such an angle and height. Richard thought this work was better than the Sistine Chapel. It is a wonderful accomplishment. I would not say better but equally well executed and much easier to enjoy because the huge halls are sparsely occupied with visitors. There was no struggle to find room to stand and gaze and listen. A few works painted by other artists such as Titian, Tiepolo and Giorgioni are also notable. However this was Tintoretto's project. It’s good that he had all this work because he never wanted to leave Venice. I wonder if he got bored from time to time with the same project or if his faith in the Christian god gave him energy to keep painting. I suppose a paycheck helped him along too.

Tintoretto married Faustina Episcopi. Her father, Marco, was Guardian Grand in the Scuola de San Marco. Perhaps Jacopo married into some influence where his art career was concerned. The 1547 union produced a workshop of children who painted as well. It appears that San Rocco became a family project.

Afterward we stopped in to see the Santa Maria Gloriosa del Frari. There are some Titian paintings there. At this point my notes are sketchy and I can tell you to visit another church after the Scoula gives the mind nothing left to hold onto. I do not remember this one.

We had the best gelato ever right outside the church. I remember that. It was a combination of nuts, orange and chocolate. It would be the last gelato I enjoyed as the next one was just one too many. From there we made our way to Murano via the San Marco Piazza where we angled and eventually found the Fondamente Nuove vaperetto stop. This was a good walk that leads to some interesting shopping including very expensive clothing as well as various specialty food shop and bakeries. There were a couple of average grocery stores as well. The people who live there have to eat and I knew they shopped somewhere and it was good to finally find the area. We walked as fast as possible and I even peeked into a little church or two on the way. When I saw R running I knew the vaporetto was at the dock and we would have to hurry or wait a half hour. Not that I would mind waiting and looking in a few more shops and churches but R likes to keep things moving and we did have to keep moving if we were going to see everything before dark. I ran. Not my best suit but I can still do it under pressure. We then began our water journey to Murano. The island is famous for its glass. Much of it blown. Murano appeared to be a miniature Venice. We walked some more. I didn't take nearly enough pictures. My bad habit of thinking that I will just look for now and get the pictures on the way back. Of course we never went back the same way. So there you go. Nothing was open but it was enjoyable anyway. I was pretty tired by this time. We of course stopped to look at a church. There are so many beautiful churches. In this one I noticed that the glass chandeliers were the same as ones we saw in Malta last September.

We caught one of the last vaporettos from Murano and rode it all the way around Venice to the stop that was along-side the dock for our ferry back to the campground. R wanted to go back to the camp to eat. I won the discussion about where to eat when we spotted a nice cafe within sight of the ferry dock. We approached a waiter about eating and he went into a animated explanation in Italian about how all the tables were full. It was hot and we love to eat inside where the air-conditioning is running so we went inside and sat in a place where R could keep his eye out for the ferry. We ordered from the tourist set menu which proved to be good as we enjoyed best lasagna ever and steak, salad, and fries to go with. We missed desert because the ferry pulled up and off we went. Our waiter never spoke any language but Italian and I would never suggest that that was not a problem. He became somewhat upset when we spoke our home language but we did very well if we pointed to what we wanted and used what Italian couresis we could remember. His pride in his profession and service were impressive to observe.

We caught one of the last vaporettos from Murano and road it all the way around Venice to the stop that was along side the dock for our ferry back to the campground. R wanted to go back to the camp to eat. I won the discussion about where to eat when we spotted a nice cafe within sight of the ferry dock. We a waiter about eating and he went into a animated explanation in Italian about how all the tables were full. It was hot and we love to eat inside where the air-conditioning is running so we went inside and sat in a place where R could keep his eye out for the ferry. We ordered from the tourist set menu. We had the best lasagna ever and beer, steak, salad, and fries to go with were O.K... We missed desert because the ferry pulled up and off we went. Our waiter never spoke any language but Italian and I would never suggest that that was not a problem. He became somewhat upset when we spoke our home language but we did very well if we pointed to what we wanted and used what Italian polite forms we could remember. His pride in his profession and service were impressive to observe.

Darkness complemented the tiny lights that fluttered along the shore and peaked in and out of the incoming fog on our trip home. We sat on the top deck again of course. It’s the best place to take in the spectacle.

Tomorrow we would take it a little easier. Bugs were biting at the camp ground and the 18-32's were partying. With earplugs in place I slept soundly.