Abendteuer Einundzwanzig: Venice (Teil Zwei)

My second morning in Venice dawned bright and clear. I had to catch my train out at around 11:00, so I set out about my business as early as I could. 

The morning sun made everything beautiful. 

View from the balcony of my hostel

To be honest, I just really enjoyed taking pictures of Venice.

I mean, come on, it's Venice

I got a nice piece of fruit cake for breakfast; needless to say, it was better than any for the Fruchtkuchen I've had so far in Bern.

After breakfast, I headed back to Saint Mark's to get in the (bogglingly long) entrance queue.

What a place for wedding photography...

The murals in front of Saint Mark's were amazing

Unfortunately, photography inside the Cathedral was strictly prohibited--this was unfortunate because Saint Mark's was my first real Byzantine Cathedral. Compared to the gothics I've gotten accustomed to, it was really fascinating. Not to mention every bit as ornate as the Doge's palace (the Cathedral and the Palace were, after all, part of the same structure).

If you'd like to see the inside of the basilica, check out this link. Spoiler: it's a link to Google images. 

After touring the Cathedral for while, I did a quick sweep of the perimeter of Saint Mark's. What I found: fancy restaurants, tourist kitsch, Murano glass, and the most amazing mask shop I think I've ever seen. I mean, wow.

I also found...

A whole family of Murano glass pugs! 

At this point, I decided to head back towards the train station. As this was on the other side of the city (literally) and, as my map only had half of the streets labeled, I knew that this endeavor would be an adventure. Still, I had plenty of time.

Venetian architecture really is lovely

While in Venice, I had hoped to have the opportunity to go for a gondola ride. Unfortunately, gondola rides cost 80--100 Euro for thirty minutes, and even I wasn't willing to spend that kind of money. Fortunately for me, I had another option--a traghetto. A traghetto is basically a gondola for college students. It's a big gondola run by a pair of men which is used to shuttle you across places. You pay maybe 2 Euro for a five minute ride...

Anyway, I say it counted as riding on a gondola.

Where to go to hop on

On board

Gary enjoyed the ride

After the traghetto ride, I continued walking through the city.

af

No idea what this was

Fruits and vegetables, sold via boat. I found a floating market.

View from the bridge by the train station. You really don't see many cars in Venice.

When I got to the station, I had about half an hour to catch my last glimpse of the city. I celebrated this in the best way I could imagine:

I'm really going to miss aperitifs in America...

Thus, with my stomach happily full of fruity girl drinks, I set off towards Verona.