Piazza S. Marco, Gelato and Pizza

Tuesday 17th June 2014

Blog post by the mother

Even though we have only been in Venice for two nights it feels like a lot longer.  I am definitely loving Venice this time round much more than I had anticipated.  I think this is helped by the fact that we have our great little apartment right in the thick of things.  We woke this morning to the sound of the church bells ringing and the fragrant odour  of freshly caught fish wafting on the breeze (the one downside of staying so close to the Rialto markets).  After a quick look at the fish markets and the vast array of seafood on offer we crossed the bridge and headed over to the Piazza S. Marco.

The kids were all impressed by the exterior of the Basilica and were keen to get inside to explore further.  Even at a fairly early hour of the morning the queue to get into the Basilica was already snaking across the piazza and out towards the canal.

The father and the boys were keen to go to the top of the campanile and get some aerial views of Venice, so the girls and I held our place in the Basilica line and off they went.

As is always the way with these things the Basilica line then moved very quickly and we were at the front door well before the boys came back down.  We didn't have quite enough time to count all the arches on the Doges Palace but Miss 9 was rather put out that the boys came back before she had time to see the bell striking the hour.

The Basilica was still as beautiful as I remember inside but it feels much more like a tourist attraction than a place of worship.  Mr 14 was becoming quite irritated by the number of people taking photographs despite the signage clearly indicating this was forbidden.  I was becoming quite irritated by the number of people who felt that the request for silence in the Basilica did not apply to them and that they should give guided tours very loudly in Russian.  Bah, humbug!

Anyhow, we all made it out unscathed and still smiling politely so that is one miracle for the Basilica S. Marco.  Pigeon numbers in the square have dropped considerably due to a culling programme but we still managed to find a few for a photo.

Near the piazza is a little canal where the gondoliers hang out while they have a break and wait for their next fare.  I love just watching them chatting amongst themselves and having animated conversations on their cell phones.

From the piazza we walked along to the Bridge of Sighs and the girls were quite fascinated by the idea of the prisoners walking across it. After a walk around the area surrounding the piazza it was back on the vaporetto to the apartment for lunch with a few more sights along the way.

St Maria Salute basilica

A wedding boat!



After lunch, a siesta for the father and homework for the kids we were off out again in search of our daily gelato fix.  This time our destination was Grom - another of Agatha's recommendations.  We visited some churches on the way and found the shop and enjoyed our gelati very much - flavour of the month is raspberry cheesecake mmm mmm!
Miss 7 was also able to realise her dream of buying a purple lace mardi gras mask.  She was very pleased with herself - especially when the shop owner gave her a discount.


As we walked back out to the canal to get the vaporetto back to the apartment we came to the S. Toma traghetto stop. Forgive me as I will now sound like a complete stalker but ... she was there!  The only female gondolier in Venice.  She was conversing loudly and enthusiastically with the other older gondoliers and is clearly used to having to hold her own.  The best thing was that she had long nails with fluoro pink nail polish - fantastic! It completely made my day seeing her.

 

 

Last stop for the day was dinner in a little trattoria about three streets away from the apartment.  The kids are all loving the breadsticks that always appear on the table and their adoration for pizza is still enduring.  It helps when you have 20 odd topping combination choices.

Miss 9 though has a true loyalty to her pizza prosciutto.  Possibly keeping it simple saves her from being overwhelmed by all the other choices!

Back to the apartment to pack the bags, do one last load of washing (it will be dry by morning on the fabulous outside line) and generally get ready to head to Roma.