Venice - Arrival, San Marco Square

In the morning in Florence we visited the Basilica de Santa Maria Novella where were admired some nice frescoes before hopping our fast and expensive EuroStar train to Venice. When we arrived Mom and Dad were were just arriving at the train station to meet us, having gotten in 45 minutes earlier from Portland, Oregon and checked into our hotel.

We dropped off our bags at the hotel room, then struck out in search of a restaurant that wasn't crazy expensive. We ended up at a little bar along some random little canal where we had pasta and salad.

From Venice

After lunch we walked down to San Marco Square where we found and admired the fancy astrological clock which shows the positions of the sun and moon relative to the earth and zodiac, along with the phase of the moon and the world's first digital clock. According to legend, the inventor was murdered so that no other city could make for themselves such a cool clock. Something for us scientists and engineers to keep in mind, I guess...

From Venice

Next we did the Rick Steves audio walking tour around San Marco Square, seeing the different "sides" of the square that were from different eras, and how the one built by Napoleon in the back tries to bring everything together, which it does well at a glance, but if you look closely you can see the imperfections.

From Venice

There was also the big bell tower, the Doge's Palace (a fancy place that very much flaunts its lack of needing to be a fortress), many of the winged lions of St. Mark, and the Bridge of Sighs (surrounded by ad-covered scaffolding).

From Venice

It was a good day, and it was really good to see my folks!

From Venice