Day 3 - Venice 5/9/14 blog and pics - now with some videos too!!

NOTE: I have figured out how to get the videos uploaded.  See the following links for some videos from each day so far.  Also, I have discovered that using diorama/tilt-shift mode in video takes awesome stop-motion videos. OMG. See today's set for a couple.

Videos are at the end of each day's set, day two will be up ASAP but I have a bunch of videos from the glassmaking demo that I really want to make and this connection is just too slow.

Day 1 Pictures and now Videos
Day 3 Pictures and Videos - all new today

And now onto the blog:

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2:00pm - sitting outside in the Jewish ghetto waiting for my 2:30 tour.  Woke up earlier than I wanted and did a bit of laundry to stay on top of things. Had breakfast and got a cappuccino and set out to wander the San Polo and Dorsoduro neighborhoods. Another perfect cloudless day, warm with a breeze.

Basically just wandered around for a few hours and went into the Ca' Rezzonico, a palace of 18th century Venetian art and furniture. Very pretty. First place I've been in where they actually had guards in most of the rooms to prevent photos. I basically was the only person inside and it felt like the palace was mine. As if!

Continued wandering and enjoyed the views from the accademia bridge. Pondered going into the museum but at 15€ I couldn't bring myself to spend that much on an art museum that I wouldn't appreciate anyway. 

Wandered around a bit more and found the zattere, a broad promenade on the back of Venice that overlooks giudecca island. Observed a gondola-making place for a few minutes and had an early two-course cichetti lunch at highly-recommended gli schiavi that cost about 10 euros for six snacks and two glasses of wine. An interesting highlight was bread topped with pistachio cream, and I have no idea what it was but it did in fact taste like creamy pistachio.  I'll challenge you to find anywhere in the US where you can get two glasses of good wine and six appetizers for just over ten bucks. 

Conveniently, two doors down was gelateria lo squero, also highly recommended. Had a dark chocolate/hazelnut combo that was unusually large for the price 2.50) and especially creamy. Gelato tip of the day: without fail, I find you always get more of the first flavor you ask for. 

Took the vaporetto #2 from zattere to piazzale Roma and saw motor vehicles for the first time in two days. It's easy to forget what those motors sound like after a couple peaceful days. Was going to go to another Bacaro on my list nearby but even at about 12:45pm they appeared out of food!  Instead kept walking to the train station where I figured it'd be a good idea to buy all the train tickets I need that I couldn't get in advance when i was at a bigger station and not in a rush. 

Made the short walk over to the ghetto. You can tell you arrived because the buildings suddenly get twice as tall and the streets even narrower than the others due to the limited space in the past. Thank you very much to the man at the ticket counter at the Jewish museum who humored me and replied to me in Italian!

An Italian high school group just arrived in the square. I'd say about 85% of them are wearing some version of the same converse high top shoes. Fascinating. 

4:15pm - back at the B&B for a rest.  The ghetto tour was as interesting as I remembered, but the guide not nearly as passionate.  You get to see three synagogues - the German, French/Torinese, and Leventine (Greek/Turkish).  The Italian one is closed and the Spanish one is the one used on a daily basis during the summer.  They were all built in the 1500s and are on top floors of the apartment buildings.  Some are ornate with wood and others with gold carvings.  The German one is like a round theater, and the Leventine one, the richest one, is like a palace because it was designed by the same architect who did Ca Rezzonico, which I saw this morning.

Walked to the vaporetto stop to find it closed for construction this week, so walked in Cannaregio a bit more to the next stop, Ca D'Oro and took it a few stops back to save the feet and since I have a pass I paid for and have not used much. 

I've noticed there are fewer smart phones here, and when people use them, they are actually using their phones to - shock - talk to people rather than aimlessly walk around typing into a screen. 

8:45pm - back from an early bacaro/cichetti pub crawl in the Rialto area.  First I went back to Do Mori from yesterday lunch and had a bunch of snacks and a prosecco.  Then went back to Alla Ciurma for that ridiculous artichoke/speck/cheese croquette and a crostini... and a prosecco.  Then wandered because it was still early, and found Al Marca right near the canal and Rialto Market. It's just a store front with some snacks and drinks and oodles of locals spilling into the square.  Had a couple of mini sandwiches including one with homemade pancetta and a rose sparkling wine.  Yes that makes five glasses of sparkling wine today... oops, is that too many?  But I'm in the land of prosecco!  And it's so cheap. On all of the above, which is about 10 snacks and 3 glasses of wine, I probably spent about $25.  

I feel pity for the souls I see walking on my way sitting in the touristy places with pushy waiters standing outside holding menus in 4 languages :( you're over-spending and getting shit frozen food. I heard one American lady ask a guy on the worst part near the Rialto bridge (my B&B owner made me promise not to eat at any of those places) if the pizza crust was thin. Took everything I had in me not to turn around and tell her they were probably frozen.

Meanwhile, as you have probably noticed in my pictures, some of them have oodles of people in them, and some have absolutely no one.  That's Venice. There's a few main areas where ALL and I do mean ALL of the people are. Walk a few streets either way, and there is literally, and I mean literally, no one.  I also pity the souls who never see that Venice. 

Anyway, after eating and drinking, I crossed the bridge to find Suso again and splurged on two of their more expensive gourmet flavors - dark chocolate and Opera - both of which were ridiculous, but particularly the dark chocolate, which was so dark and not sweet that it was almost bitter.  It rivaled the dark chocolate from a few years ago in Manarola I must say. 

Wandered around a bit more and stopped by the pastry shop where I've been getting my cappuccinos in the morning a few steps from my B&B.  Bought a "moro" pastry for tomorrow, which is like a big round chocolate cookie covered in whole almonds. 

I'm exhausted so decided to have an early night.  Tomorrow it's off to Padova for a day stop off and then a couple nights in Verona.  The Shakespeare tour contiunes. 

Total steps walked today - 23,374, 32 flights of stairs, and 9.30 miles.  Yikes! 

9:45pm - so I heard the B&B owner out in the breakfast room and I went to go pay and say goodbye. Got hugged twice again and had a nice long talk about the tourist problems in Venice and other places in Italy we like. She even gave me a little present of a glass pendant, are you joking?! She also told me to take everything I want from the breakfast room for my journey forward and call her If I have any problems along the way. She told me I am very special - no stefania, YOU are definitely the special one my dear friend. The amenities of the b&b are similar to what I have seen other places but her hospitality is truly unmatched. Reaffirms everything I believe about staying in small family places. It's an irreplaceable experience.