Nicole schreibt...

More recently I've developed a taste for returning to places I visited a while ago - mostly just to revisit and refresh my memories, but also to see them with different eyes now that I'm older and (hopefully) a bit wiser. After having such a wonderful time in Rome last year, I decided to do a similar return trip to my beloved Venice - after all the last trip is now ten years ago and I felt like there was so much I hadn't seen yet.

So off to La Serenissima I was on a flight from Dusseldorf with Lufthansa - normally I'd be annoyed about an hour delay but following the strike madness in March, I was glad it was just a little delay. Besides I got lucky for once and had a window seat on the right side of the plane, offering me this amazing view over the city and the lagoon.

I had decided to take the boat into Venice, since it would be a lot less walking than by bus from Piazzale Rome and how many towns in the world offer airport transfer by boat in the first place? So while 15 Euro was a bit steep in my opinion, it was worth it nonetheless, disembarking at Rialto Bridge where my hotel was nearby. Though it took me three trecks up and down the street to find the tiny thoroughfare leading into Campiello Remer - would it hurt them to put a sign up there? My Bed and Breakfast was part of the Palazzo Al Lion Morosini (probably the servants' quarters), which has its own little campiello and embarkation point right on Canal Grande with a look towards Rialto - absolutely wonderful and just what I had dreamed of when I went looking for a hotel in Venice proper (having stayed in Mestre on both my previous trips).

Next morning I went back to Piazza San Marco where the queue to enter the basilica had already formed although it wouldn't open for another 45mins. Crazy! I hadn't been inside yet, so it was on top of my list - though I sat in a nice sunny spot with my book until the basilica opened and the queue started shuffling in.
They have created the entrance quite cleverly, making it look like you need to fork over 5 Euro to access the whole basilica, though that's actually just to access the upper level and the Loggia dei Cavalli, where the original four bronze horses that were nicked from Constantinople during the ill-fated Fourth Crusade in 13th century are on display. The horsies out front above the entrance you can see on my photo are fake ones - just so you know! Luckily I saw two determined nuns walking towards a big curtain and realized that that was the actual entrance to St.Mark's Basilica, so I followed them and realized that it was free indeed. It's 2 Euro extra to look at the Pala d'Oro, the impressive golden altarpiece, but I just bought the postcard instead. All this aside, the basilica, which was inspired by Byzantine Constantinople and has many oriental influences, -is- a gorgeous piece of art with its golden walls and ceilings. Glad I finally went in.

Afterwards I headed to the Museo Correr, the museum of "the city of the Venice" on the far end of St. Mark's Square, which was pretty decent, though half of it is given to the "royal apartments" of Franzl and Sissi who hung around Venice alot in 19th century (it was part of their Austrian empire), then some interesting maps of Venetian colonies in the Eastern Mediterranean, paintings and tons of knick-knacks. Part of the building is now the archaeological museum with tons of stuff from Roman times (although the Romans never actually ventured into the swampy lagoon in their days!) and the gorgeous reading room of the Libreria Nazionale Marciana with its thousands of ancient books. Taking photos inside was forbidden, but at least I could take a nice snap of the piazza from a window.

It was a combination ticket (at a whopping 16 Euro) for the Palazzo Ducale as well, but even though I had been there before, I did seize the chance to visit again - again, no photos allowed inside, but I could snap a few outside. To the left is the old main entrance, now sadly closed, leading towards the Scala d'Oro,that leads up to the state rooms on the second floor. The one on the right is the view from the Bridge of Sighs and thus presumably the last glimpse prisoners caught of Venice and the sea before being flung into their cells.

Following an early night in after the long walks around the city, I went back to the Riva dei Schiavoni once more next morning, this time to visit the Museo Storico Navale near the Arsenal, a museum dedicated to Venice's great naval past - which cost all of 1,55 Euro to enter. A pleasant contrast to the previous day and the whopping prices around St. Mark's.

The museum itself was pretty interesting too with tons of boat replicas from medieval galleys to modern navy ships, including a large-scale model of the Bucintoro, the famous golden barge in which the Doge went out to "marry the sea" during the annual Festa Di Sensa on Ascension Day. I had actually thought that they had the real Bucintoro there, but learned to my dismay that that little creep Napoleon had the original destroyed to get at the gold when he ended the great history of the Republic of Venice.

I kept walking to the Biennale area at the very tip of Venice, where lots of work was in progress to prep the international pavilions for the next bi-annual Biennale Art Exhibition which opens in June this year. So since I felt out of place between all the workers, I didn't linger long but enjoyed the green quiet area of the Giardini Pubblici for some time. Finally I wandered back through Castello and Cannaregio when my bladder demanded attention. Since I wasn't far from the hotel at this stage, I decided to just buy a hot involtini for lunch and enjoyed it at the hotel sitting on my private jetty by the Canal Grande. Afterwards I went for one more walk through Cannaregio to Piazzale Roma to scout out how long the walk would be when I had the airport bus to catch, then back through Santa Croce and San Polo for a little afternoon nap.

The problem with travelling alone is that the evenings are often hard to fill with something to do, once museums and shops are closed. So I usually end up in the hotel room early for TV or reading and miss out on seeing a town by night - and I definitely did want to see Venice in the dark. So I was glad that I was able to get a somewhat cheap ticket to La Fenice, Venice's famous opera house which had burnt down in 1996 but was rebuilt in exactly the same lovely baroque style as before. They were doing a week of Mozart, so I had opted for "The Marriage of Figaro" which was on Wednesday. I had a nice dinner right beside the opera house before heading in for the show. It was rather good, though while it was no German Regietheater nonsense, the director did not only mess with the period but also with the ending, basically turning a comedy into a drama by having the Countess Almaviva throw herself from a window instead of forgiving her cheating husband. Ah well, in a way it's comforting to know that Germany isn't the only place where directors get to mess with operas and plays.

The walk back through the dark (but still busy) streets was quite nice too - the brightly light St. Mark's Square feeling even more like "Venice's living room" now. Sadly, my new camera didn't take any decent pictures of Venice by Night - I'll have to figure that out sometime.

Next morning I had planned one last stroll around, but Venice surprised me with pouring rain. So basically the only thing I did was buy an umbrella, wander over to St. Mark's Square one last time - where the rain was blown in straight from the sea - and squelch my way back to the hotel and from there to Piazzale Roma to catch the airport bus. My feet were still wet, when I came home hours later!

I feel like there's still a lot to discover in Venice which I haven't seen yet, so chances are, I'll be returning again someday. But it was great to discover the real Venice beyond the beaten tourist track that runs from Piazzale Roma via Rialto to San Marco and a few other bits, to realize that despite the millions of tourists and the rampant commercialism, there's still a real breathing living city hidden in the sestrieres, a city that is still unique in the world and will hopefully remain this way for a long way to come.