Evening all!
We had a fantastic day in Venice! Heck, it was fantastic before we even crossed over onto San Marcos Island because I spotted the ITS Amerigo Vespucci ahead of us. Tall ships are beautiful, especially tall ships that serve as naval training vessels.
More on that later.
Anyway, we start the day with a guided tour of Venice, starting of course with the Piazza San Marcos. Look, St. Mark’s Square is freaking amazing. There’s the basilica, the Palazza Ducale, the tower, and the clock face. You’ll see pictures. Totally awesome.
Then we wound our way through the city. I have pictures of the Rialto Bridge along with all sorts of other cool stuff. We ended this tour at Fortuny Museum.
This museum was half awesome, half meh because they had a modernist exhibit to join with Fortuny’s really cool stuff. Fortuny specialized in light, but did so with paint, fabric, stone, theater, photography, and I think more. He was a true genius, coming up with a way to block print using silk, not wood. Fascinating stuff.
From there, the wife and I went and had lunch after wandering through the warrens. Seriously, since land is at a premium and horses weren’t allowed on the main islands, these streets are usually less than 6 feet wide. In D&D terms, that’s one 5x5 square. Really cool!
Then we went to the Palazza Ducale, the Doge’s Palace.
O.
M.
G.
There will be pictures. It’s astounding. Incredibly beautiful, with painting, sculpture, woodworking, fabrics, weapons, and more. Honestly, I cannot do justice to this building, it’s truly amazing.
It’s also huge! You go up about 5 flights of stairs, go through room after room, and it keeps going. The armorial exhibit was like 6 rooms filled with stuff. Swords, glaives, crossbows, guns, armor, shields, barding, and more. Just wow.
Did I mention OMG?
And on top of that all, from a window I could see the Amerigo Vespucci but what I hadn’t noticed before was P431 Francesco Morosini, which should be called a frigate but is called an offshore patrol vessel. Look, 4400 tons is a frigate, dammit! It’s a Fincantieri designed ship, which is especially interesting since we passed a Fincantieri shipyard on our way into Venice. They do cruise ships at that one, but I’m always interested in shipyards.
Behind the Francesco Morosini was the A5326 Etna, lead ship of the Etna-class replenishment oilers. That’s pretty cool too.
I have pictures of all that, of course.
After leaving the Ducal Palace, though, we were done. We gathered loot at the gift store and came home to relax before dinner, a bottle of valpolicella, and now an early night.
Tomorrow has some fun things planned, so stay tuned!
Have a great night everyone!