Venice - part 4

We went to quite a few great places that I couldn't post any pictures from because they don't allow pictures inside. We went to the Gallerie dell'Accademia and the Museo del Settecento veneziano (Ca' Rezzonico). We also went to the Basilica di San Marco, which is incredible, but could not take pictures inside. I think that Sarah may have snuck a picture or two.

Here is a picture from San Marco's patio where the replica horses reside. The Horses of St. Mark now sit just inside the church, in the museum on the upper floor. They were said to have been on the Arch of Trajan and then at the Hippodrome of Constantinople. In 1204 they were taken by the Venetians in the sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade and installed on St. Mark's in 1254. Then in 1797 Napoleon took them back to Paris until they were returned to Venice in 1815. The replicas have been outside since the 1990s. Anyway, I decided not to show you a picture of them. They're just horses. Okay, so they're horses from classical antiquity. More importantly, there was a giant poster of Roger Federer across from the Doge's Palace.

We weren't really allowed to take pictures in the Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari (aka the Frari) either, but I did anyway. The outside of the Frari is quite plain, but the inside is beautiful. Above is the only remaining rood screen (a common medieval feature that divides the chancel from the nave)in Venice. This rood screen was a very substantial and ornate structure.

Some of the more ominous looking side chapel decorations.

These are three of the larger side chapels. Wealthy families would pay for side chapels and would often commission well-known artists to decorate them. Ask Sarah for more info.

Titian's Assumption, located on the Frari's high altar.

Frari's reliquary.

On our last morning we decided to wake up early to watch the sun rise over the Venetian lagoon. According to our map the view above through the Piazza San Marco was facing east. I didn't think that sounded right, but I decided to believe the map. So we got up around 5am and headed out four hours before our breakfast in bed was set to arrive. Yep, the love room got breakfast in bed. So we made our way, still tired, to San Marco. It was great seeing the piazza with nobody in it. We were so used to seeing it with hundreds and maybe thousands of tourists. This early in the morning there were only us, a few pigeons, and a few other eager tourists. The only problem was that the sun was rising on the other side of the island. So we took off in search of sunrise. We made our way to the east end of the island and found it. It had already risen, but it was still nice.

These are the gates to the Venetian Arsenal. It is the shipyard that built the ships that helped build Venice's empire.

This is the home of Societa Sportive Calcio Venezia, aka Venezia, aka Venice's professional soccer team. They aren't great. Their highest finish ever was third place in the Serie A in 1942. Now they are in the third tier of Italian soccer, Serie C1.