Venice - part 2

Unfortunately Sarah and I did not take a ride on a gondola. They are kinda pricy and we had very little time for dilly dallying. Maybe next time we go we'll try it. Anyway, here are a few random shots of gondolas.


This is the beginning of a gondola traffic jam.


This is the Lair of the Gondoliers. It is where the gondoliers get together to scheme and plan their reconquest of the Veneto. Or maybe it's the Rialto Bridge. One or the other.

I think that this is a gondolier drug deal. This was taken right before a gondola drive-by.

This is the Palazzo Ducale. Besides being the residence of the Doge, it is also where the political institutions of the Republic of Venice were housed. There are all kinds of elaborately decorated halls inside for every facet of their government. Their government was kind of confusing. They had the Doge, the Major Council, the Minor Council, an executive branch, a senate, the Council of Ten, a Supreme Tribunal, and who knows what else. It's very impressive in most of the halls.

Since we were not allowed to take pictures inside the Doge's Palace we had to settle for a few shots in the courtyard and out of windows. Above, in the courtyard, you can see a wellhead. These wellheads could be found in almost all of the piazzas in town. Most were not this elaborately decorated.

Sarah is a sucker for a good wellhead. She is fascinated by them.

Close-up on the wellhead. Check out this sexy fellow.

Sarah loves butts made of marble.

This is the Bridge of Sighs that connects the interrogation rooms in the Palazzo Ducale with the old prison. It is made of white limestone and has stone bars over the windows.

This view from the Bridge of Sighs was the last view that convicts saw on their way from the courts to the cells. Lord Byron supposedly named it the Bridge of Sighs because prisoners would sigh at their last view of the beautiful city.

For some reason this is the only picture I took of the Rialto Bridge. It is not a good view of it. This is just one of the approaches to the bridge. There are lots of shops and gypsies on the bridge.