Two days in Venice-Italy

Two days in Venice isn't much time we knew. And although the days were misty, we still got the most out of them.
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Day 1
After reading guide books (Thanks to mom-in-law, Gracie, Judy and Martin) and www.tripadvisor.com, we took the suggestion of walking towards Piazza San Macro on our first day. We weren't too worried about getting lost as there were so many tourists like us, holding their maps and trying to figure out where they were. You know you are on the right track as yellow signs with arrows to Piazza San Macro keep showing up whenever you start doubting your whereabouts. We took as many pictures as possible, especially those colorful buildings that caught our eyes. A lot of them have sculptural designs around their windows, doors, or even doorknobs. You will also find magnificent mask and glass stores at every corner.

We reached Piazza San Macro after lunch break, where you can find people standing and sitting in groups chatting, laughing, and taking pictures. You can hear singing and music instruments playing as well. Even the big fat pigeons joined in the commotion and were hanging around people, hoping tourists would feed them. Ian, like other kids, especially enjoyed scaring the pigeons, so they flied and we got so worry that the pigeon would take their revenge by bombing us.

As we only had two days in Venice, we picked the two main attractions: The Basilica of San Macro and The Doge's Palace. We visited the Basilica of San Macro (or Basilica of St. Mark) first. It was rebuilt in 11-century and we were amazed by the upkeep of the structures, and the 17-century mosaics arts inside of the church. Since picture taking is not allowed in the Basilica of St. Mark, we examined each piece carefully.

It was November, by five o'clock the sky started fading to grey. We took some night scene pictures at the Piazza after finishing our tour in the Basilica of St. Mark. We then took another adventure to find a place for dinner by crossing the oldest bridge in Venice - The Rialto Bridge. The night scene is so peaceful since there is not much traffic on the water anymore. That night we had a nice dinner and met a couple from Malta and later a mother-and-son who came from Connecticut, U.S.A. They were sharing their experiences in other parts of the Italy. It felt like having dinners at home as you don't easily find people speaking fluent English in Italy.

Day 2
On our second day, we used the 12-hour day pass (cost 14 euros each), that allowed us to hop on buses and water buses (vaporetti) anytime we wanted. We arrived at Piazza San Macro again, but this time we visited The Doge's Palacenext door to the Basilica of St. Mark. Once we entered The Doge's Palace, we were like two kids on their first trip to zoo, uttering only wows and woos. The palace is covered with sculptures on the outside. And on the inside it is filled with sculptures double my size and paintings triple my size (or more!). The world's largest canvas depicting hundreds of saints is the great hall (Sala del Maggior Consiglio) in the palace, in which I fell asleep. Even the walls and ceilings are embroidered with golden threads framed within golden borders. I wonder if they have golden bathtubs and toilets hidden somewhere in the Palace that are not permitted to be shown in public. At one point we weren't even sure if our upper lips and lower lips would be ever met again.

We only had three hours left after The Doge's Palace for the architecture exhibition portion of the Biennale festival. Good thing that this was not a tourist attraction. No lining up was necessary. We quickly strolled through the various halls and exhibit spaces and took pictures of whatever Ian wanted to keep for inspiration. Looking at some modern designs was a good balance so we don't get overwhelmed by historical paintings and sculptures - or "cathedral fatigue" as some call it.

One of the things we missed out in Venice is riding the Gondolas. Since the day light was scarce and we had only two days, we would rather spend time seeing the sights than chilling out on a Gondola. This gave an excuse to visit Venice again in the future as we had yet to try the Gondolas.