Our last full day in Venice--sigh...

What to do on my final day here in Venice?  Hmmm, I hadn't been to Murano, ever, so that became the first destination, but I love St Mark's Square... And that's how the list grew. Hold on to your hats, here we go!

Just like Venice, Murano has canals, bridges, and bell towers--plus a really big 'thing' made of glass in a little piazza--

it's a lovely place. I wandered over bridges and back, shopping for my dear family--even a couple small things for myself! 

 

I took this picture on Murano, but people use carts like this one-- some larger, some smaller--all over Venice! Just think about the things that need to be moved in a city where there are trucks and cars. No taxis or busses to carry travelers and their luggage--they pull them along the sidewalk! Think about it, it's impressive and startling. 

And those aesthetically pleasing bridges all have steps going up one side and down the other, though some--certainly not all--of the larger ones have a kind of smooth pathway lane, mostly it's stairs. Not many physically handicapped people out and about!

But let's move on in the day. After a pleasant lunch canalside with Denise on Murano, we split up to return by different ways.  I returned to St Mark's Square (or Piazza San Marco) for one more stroll. Such an expansive, beautiful place!

 St Mark anchors that far end like this--

 and on the our right side as we face St Mark's is Cafe Florian,

with its small orchestra still playing.

Then I took off through the maze of alleys to locate La Fenice, the opera house, but on the way I stumbled onto this church

and a fun photo op--

Now there's La Fenice! 

(BTW, You might want to read Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon; it's a Comissario Brunetti mystery.)

Next, because of a reminder from Jeff this morning, I sought out this amazing external staircase on Scala Contarini del Bovolo:

Is it cool or what?!!!

Then to my final destination (before returning to my home away from home)) Scuola Grande de San Rocco, sometimes called Tintoretto's Sistine Chapel! Of course I wasn't permitted to take photos inside--so why mention it, you say? I tell you about it because it is magnificent, and when you come to Venice, I want you to  be sure and see it, and not on your last day, but earlier so you can go a second time! As my usual back-up, I bought a postcard of a favorite (and took a lousy picture of it) just so you could get some idea of Tintoretto's incredible work. It's the Annunciation, when the angel appears to Mary: 

There is so much going on here: all the movement, that wall exposed showing an ordinary, even poor house instead of a palace, also the way that wall kind of traps Mary in a corner--amazing and full of wonder!

So that's Venice through my eyes. tomorrow we travel to Assisi, a very different kind of place: a town, not a city, and the home of St. Francis. We'll change trains in Florence, but the railway station is all we'll see. So it's sunset for me in Venice:

Ciao!