Bits and Pieces: When boy meets girl

On day 2, I awoke with the sun, which this time of the year is very early. Its amazing how long the days are when you are this far above the equator - it makes for amazing summers and horrible winters. Two extremes in one location is always exciting.

I caught the first public transport boat using my day card, taking a nice leisurely window seat ride the opposite direction that I wanted to go - took me a while to get used to the maps and colour routes! I ended up being on the boat an extra hour just seeing the outside of the island rather than the main canal. It was very pretty and the boat was not nearly as packed as the grand canal boats, which I would find later.

First stop was at the Rialto Bridge for some photos:

The grand canal was teeming with life - there were UPS boats, cargo boats, gondolas, more public transport, alligator boats, taxi boats, all kinds of boats! Restaurants line the canal and with the amazing sun, all of them were doing brisk business.

Everywhere you look, something new to see. Each angle from the bridge provided a new opportunity to gaze into the world of Italia, land of the Doges.

Just another church along the Grand Canal - not grand enough for me to remember, but grand.

Grand Canal sites

Just off the Grand Canal - little "alley ways" of water.

What appears grand enough to be St Mark's Cathedral, but isn't.

Beautiful use of colour for buildings - and if you can believe it, in the heydays, was brighter than this. Mustard yellow - it feels so wrong, but looks so right in Venice.

Where is Guido #1 and #2?

Rialto market - fresh fruit everywhere (and pigeons).

Fresh fish in the Rialto market

Fresh clams? Not sure what they are, but fun to photograph.

Gelato for breakfast? Why not. #notashamed

After that nice walk around, it was off to my first museum and church of the trip. Scuola Grande di San Rocco was the first stop, which has both a chapel (although evidence below suggests this is much more than a chapel) and a meeting hall for the society (scuola). The meeting hall is often referred to as Venice's Sistine Chapel - painted though by Tintoretto. The walls and ceilings are covered in massive paintings. The audio guide was pretty good and I ended up staying for 2 hours enjoying the cool and the art. They provided mirrors for you to look at the art without straining the neck - pretty cool. RS gave it 2 pyramids - I would venture to 3. No pictures allowed inside, so you will need to look at this

I wasn't supposed to take a picture inside, but I snuck one anyway.....cheating in church!

Lunch was at a great little hole in the wall, where I had....

Mussels!

After lunch it was off on a nice long walk to Accademia bridge for the Gallerie dell'Accademia.

Cargo boats in front of Accademia

Yup, that's a wedding in one of the palaces along the canal. When boy meets girl...........

The gallery of Venetian art was very nice - cool, not busy at all and big. I wandered through the halls stopping at whatever RS recommended to see and then added a few of my own. In one of the rooms, a very nice (and maybe single) docent gave me a great explanation of the art. He then said my eyes were beautiful and that I should never change them. Oh Italian men - straight to the point! I giggled as is my customary reaction, said thank you and high tailed it out of there. Missed opportunity, but still felt good. Could have been my "cute-meet" or "meet-cute" or whatever the kids are calling it these days.

After that, it was off to celebrate success with a glass of wine on St Mark's Square whilst it rained. I can't think of any where else I've been that is more entertaining than St Mark's Square. Music at all the cafes, incredible people watching - it really is quite lovely.

I freshened up and then headed out for an evening stroll and to find dinner....no idea what these buildings are below, but ones like it were all over the place. I draw the line at solo gondola rides, so I stole this shot of a gondola/music to give a sense of the atmosphere.