The Hals Family World Adventures: Venice! Day 2 of the Hals Adventures in Italy!

June 9th, 2013

We certainly managed to squeeze in quite a few things while in Venice -

St. Mark's Square

Visited St. Mark's museum, enjoyed the view from the balcony of St. Mark's square, and!!! finally got to see the four horses in person!!! Just inches away from them! The horses were cast and made with copper and were seated along the hippodrome in Constantinople. During the fourth crusade the Venetians sacked Constantinople in 1204 and brought the horses to Venice where they eventually were prominently displayed on the balcony of St. Mark's basilica. When Napoleon conquered Italy he captured the horses and brought them to Paris, but they were promptly returned in 1815 after his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. Now, to protect them, they can only be viewed inside St. Mark's museum (upstairs), but their replicas grandly overlook the square. So cool!!! We enjoyed some beautiful views and also got to hear St. Mark's choir singing for the mass that was going on below! We couldn't go down and check out the church (we did later), but listening to the mass was really neat!

Mosaic ceiling of St. Mark's basilica

Enjoying the view of the Grand Canal from the balcony of St. Mark's basilica

The Four Horses! From Constantinople to Venice to Paris to Venice - these puppies have seen the world!

These replica have horsies have a very sweet view of the square

Enjoying the square

We passed the music museum on the way - and it was free! - so we stopped in to see some amazingly old violins and other 16th and 17th century instruments

View of the Grand Canal from the Academy bridge

Michael enjoying the view of the Grand Canal from the Academy Bridge

Next we headed on a strolling walk through Venice and crossed the Academy bridge while on our quest to reach the church from the Indiana Jones film (Daniel and Michael were really excited) and we enjoyed lunch outside of the Church of San Barnaba. After a tasty lunch in the San Barnaba square we headed into the church for a really neat exhibit on Leonardo da Vinci's machines. The church contained creations of machines modeled after da Vinci's codecs - some of the exhibits were actually interactive and we were able to actually try some of the machines! I knew da Vinci was an innovative genius - but I don't think I had truly fathomed how "ahead of his time" his thoughts really were - it was really amazing! We each found different inventions astonishing too so it was fun to see which machine resonated with each person.

Church of San Barnaba

Leonardo da Vinci's machines! - checking out his amazing pulley system

Leonardo da Vinci's machines!

After that we decided to push further out onto the peninsula and visit the Santa Maria della Salute, which is the large impressive looking church across from San Marco. Seeing it from the tower and the Academy bridge made us all really wonder what was inside and at this point we were only a block or two away.

the Hals on the steps of the Santa Maria della Salute

So at this point we were quite far from our hotel - well, in terms of the pedestrian route. By water we were quite close. This was the Hals first full day in Europe so they were battling jet lag - and we were all feeling quite hot and tired. Everyone wanted to do a gondola ride at some point - and there was an unoccupied one in front of the church...so...after a few minutes of negotiations, I managed to get the gondola driver to agree to not only a rate that was 20 € cheaper than any rates from the day before but also convinced him to not just drop us off on the San Marco side - but on the Hals' hotel dock! Perfecto! And so we were off on a lovely gondola ride that brought us through the Grand Canal, under the Rialto bridge, up and down many beautiful canals, and because we were taking a slightly different route than normal we were often going "up stream" of the crowds of gondolas and were not clumped together with the "gondola packs" we had seen the previous day. Being dropped at the hotel was perfect and we were then able to regroup and head back out to St. Mark's again. Since it was Sunday we had only been able to visit the museum in the morning (mass), but there was a window of time in the afternoon when St. Mark's was going to be open and Daniel and I insisted it was a must.

the Hals on the steps of the Santa Maria della Salute

And we're off!

That's us!

Gondola ride with Rialto bridge in the background

I remember two things about the last time I stood in St. Mark's. It was the first European church I took my students to see and I still practically get chills thinking about the gaping expressions on my students' faces and I remember it being a very impressive church. I had completely under-remembered how magnificent and remarkable a church it is - gilded from head to toe with amazing mosaics - it is absolutely gorgeous inside! Michael and I both paid extra to get to go behind the altar - the Pala d'Oro (the altar piece that boasts 2,500 precious gems and tells the story of the crucifixion and of St. Mark) and St. Mark's sarcophagus at the altar - both were amazing!

Magnificent mosaic interior of St. Mark's basilica

St. Mark's tomb (see it beneath the altar with the greenish glow)

beautiful mosaic ceilings in St. Mark's

After St. Mark's we made our way to the Palazzo Ducale or Doge's Palace - where Daniel had a slight run in with the ticket window lady. Student ID's, ages, Daniel changing his age...begrudgingly paying full price...sigh. The palace definitely captures the essence of Venetian prowess - but was much bigger than we remembered! We spent well over an hour walking from grand room to even grander room until we had all more than reached our splendor saturation point. We had a lesson about the Battle of Lepanto in the mural room and Gary and Michael were especially excited when we finally reached in the infamous Bridge of Sighs.

Michael and Daniel enjoying the view of the Doge's courtyard

*Sigh* as we cross over the infamous Bridge of Sighs

We finished the evening with a delicious dinner that overlooked the Rialto Bridge and the Grand Canal and then enjoyed dessert in St. Mark's square - overall a wonderful, very packed, whirlwind day in Venice!