Castello

We hadn't been to the Basilica dei S.S. Giovanni e Paolo for a long while, so we caught the vaporetto to Rialto and walked around quiet calli  and made our way there. We stopped and looked at many things along the way, including a visit to the Chiesa di San Lio.  With many wrong turns and interesting things to sidetrack us it took ages to go the short distance to SS Giovanni e Paolo.

 

Like everywhere else, everyone  in Venice seems to be glued to a mobile phone including the gondoliere and passengers.  A lot of people look at Venice through their Ipads.

 I was sure that I was way too tall for the Sotoportego Tramontin or Basadonna and bent over so that I wouldn't hit my head

 I guess not :)

Short Venetian women must have been my height

I was messing around with my camera and got it stuck on black and white for a while,

and sepia.

Rob stuck with colour

View into Campo S. Maria  Formosa

The pharmacy in the campo is  very close to the funeral business - not far to go to deal with mistakes

We seem to go through Campo S. Maria Formosa quite often when we cut through from  near S. Marco, the Arsenale or Riva degli Schiavoni - not really a shortcut, just a different route.

At the entrance to Basilica S.S. Giovanni e Paolo there was a beggar- normally I wouldn't take photos of beggars but he was very well organised and was hiding his phone from view and changed his strong phone voice when asking for money 

The Venice public hospital - Ospedale Civile

Another day in Venezia

Rain was predicted so we went out prepared but apart from a ten minute downpour when we were at San Marco the weather was lovely.  The rain was great because it cleared the dust and the air was fresh.  Our cousins in Mestre didn't fare so well, they got absolutely soaked when they were walking home from a computer class and the rain lasted longer there as well.

 We just spent the day wandering around and loved it.

We'll have to stop taking photos here -I try to but the light always makes it look a bit different

We also haven't taken enough photos of gondolas from the Rialto :)

We reciprocated in taking photos for another couple of tourists

A gondoliere with his telefonino - Italians are as bad as Australians with mobile phones, though maybe not in restaurants.

The downpour cleared San Marco

Except for this guy who was enjoying being the centre of attention.  Not the right body shape for the wet Tshirt look

Gondolas in their raincoats

Hope the tourists managed to get out before the gondoliere covered the seats

From the Accademia bridge -di nuovo :)

e un altro :)

This guy was very brave paddling down the Grand Canal in a kayak.  The boats are all much slower now -except for the occasional taxi.  Some German tourists died in a gondola/vaporetto accident near Rialto in the summer and as a result the Commune has more tightly regulated traffic, speeds etc

Last day in Venezia

Sadly our stay in Venezia has come to an end  -the three weeks flew by.  We had a great time despite mixed weather and lots happened -including Rob doing the Venice Marathon.  We were sad to say goodbye to Rosaria, Livio and Guido and hope that one day we will be able to get back to Venezia to see them again.  If we can get the timing right we will see Michele and Francesca again before we head for Rome.
We wandered around Venezia in the morning ,checked out of our apartment and did the usual up & down bridges with ridiculously heavy suitcases to get to the railway station.  Despite sending three boxes of stuff home, including books etc our bags are still heavy -it is hard to travel light when it is cold and you're away for a while.

It's hard doing anything in Venezia -these guys were doing renovations in Fondamenta de lo squero and had to unload their cement  bag by bag before they could start

A good day for the gondoliere -fine weather and a whole group of Chinese tourists on a tour

Not quite stilll enough for no ripples in the water, but still a good day for reflections

You can only imagine what damage these boats are doing to Venezia and the laguna

Francesco Da Mosta in Campo S Pantalon- saw him a couple of times while we were here.

Rosaria and Livio came to the station to say goodbye, it was very sad. Hope we see them again soon.