Wow! Last night we actually got to bed by 10. We have been up everyday at 6:15 to get ready for breakfast at 7 and to be off and running by 8-8:30. On certain days luggage also had to be inside the door for pickup. They have the way to go system.
Today since we didn't have to meet till 10:00 , we went to the church of the Immaculate Mary across the street from the hotel. Ok........ Throw back but real comparison eye opener was it was the Tridentine Mass. Of course all in Latin and the priest never faced us. It is amazing that people that people hung on to that style. Talk about the mystery of faith....... You didn't even know what was going on.
He did say the homily in Latin and English. But the acoustics are so eaten up by the size of the church, don't really know what he said. Communion is priest to tongue only. We went with just looking and listening.
We left the hotel and bussed the short distance to the train station. That was an experience like at Amtrak. But the best part was the high speed .... Quietness and newness of the train. 2 hours from Florence. Got out at stop in Venice and proceeded to the water taxi and after getting into the Grand Canal we boated to the Westin Europa and Regina.
Had a fantastic lunch and proceeded directly to St. Mark's Square to visit St.Mark's Basilica which is flanked by angels and decorative styles blending the East from the West. It is one of the greatest buildings in all of Europe.
The ceilings are all done in gold mosaics. The lights were not on during the day so it looks a little dull but the guide said when they turn the lights on at night it's a blaze of golden color.
Everything is also Huge. These early people were problem-solvers and when they were trying to defend themselves from the Barbarians......amazing. The columns in the front of the Basilica are all the same size but not the same look because they gathered up columns from other towns and sent them on a barge to their new destination. These people were amazing as is with any history of people although we are talking in some cases ancient here.
We also visited the Doge's Palace which was once the official residence of the elected officials of the Venetian Republic. So much art work and then we saw the prison and the extended tour features. We were always up and put early to get to where we wanted to tour when it first opened. We were successful everywhere with time to spare while the long lines formed outside.
We didn't into our rooms till 4:45 and then we had an assigned room assignment snafu and ended up in 3 different rooms within 25 minutes. Long story short the front desk had a bottle some nuts and crackers sent up with a bottle of wine and the wine attendant who opened the wine, checked if it was to our liking, poured the wine etc. Lucky we had our our wine tasting class earlier on the trip so we looked like we knew something. Ha ha
Anyway we cannot believe tomorrow is the last day. After another low- cal.... Ha ha , breakfast , we are walking to a Murano glassmaking factory for a tour. After that is free time till our Gondola ride and farewell dinner party.
Ciao!
No comments:
Post a Comment