Doing the San Marco Shuffle

And Experiencing Acqua Alto

Day 7 Venice

We had a lovely breakfast delivered to our room at precisely 8 AM, the time we requested.

We then walked towards San Marco.  We stopped at our favorite glass shop and had 2 sets of glasses (flutes and shot glasses) as well as a wedding gift for a friend sent to our house.  We’ve had glasses sent on our prior trip and knew they do a great job of packaging and shipping.  The shipping does cost more than the glasses, but so worth it

We also bought a handful of things to take home ourselves, I enjoy the whimsy of Venetian glass. 

Through one of the reviews I had read, I heard of a service that allows you to skip the long line at San Marco and get in at the time you choose.  Since we knew the lines could get long, we thought we would give this a try.  It does cost 2 Euro a person.  We knew there was a Rick Steves bag check trick, but I don’t think that would have worked this time, as they had temporarily moved the bag check.

 

We decided to have our entry time at 10:45-10:55 to give us time to get there in the morning.  Since we arrived early, we gave it a try and they let us in.  They really didn’t even look at the time.

 The downside was that you enter with the tour groups.  There was one group that was standing rather scattered near the entrance.  Before we assumed they were just gawkers, we asked them if they were in line.  You would have thought we were threatening to physically harm them from their response!  Ugly American Sighting Number 1 of our trip.  People, if you are in line and don’t want people to cut in front of you, then GET IN LINE!  I hate to think what would have happened to us if we had just assumed they were not in line.

And our impression of San Marco….

It was the Sistine Chapel all over again! 

 

We went to the Sistine Chapel our first trip to Italy.  We had paid for a tour of the Vatican Museums, mostly to get to the Chapel.  The tour was indifferent.  The guide had a program and continued with that program even if the particular item she was talking about wasn’t there (loaned out, covered up while being restored…).  When we finally got to the Chapel, it was crowded, people were pushing, and guards were yelling “No Photos, No Photos.”

I have zero memory of what the Sistine Chapel actually looks like.  Zip, Nada, Squat!

 

So, back to San Marco….we entered squeezed in between two tour groups of about 40 people each.  This line then fed into the regular line of people.  They really don’t regulate the flow of the crowds and just cram in as many people as they can.  The church is dark and the ceilings are high.  There are areas of the church that require an extra fee to enter.  We wound up shuffling our way around, and back to the exit.  We bought a book on the church and left.

It does look pretty!

Later we learned that the crowds really thin out in the afternoons, and they turn the lights on in the church about noon.  Next time…..

We then wandered around San Marco Piazza.  It is a great place to people watch and window shop.  They were setting up chairs in the middle of the square for a concert that night. 

We had a great Pizza lunch at Al Vaporetto.  It was a busy place on a busy street, so the staff was very zippy! 

 

 

I had a pizza with anchovies and capers and it was delightfully salty.  The Blog Fodder decided against the pizza with carcifio, since he didn’t want little eyes staring at him.

 

Huh?

 

As it turns out he didn’t want a pizza with acciuga (anchovies) staring at him.  He really didn’t want a pizza with carcifio either, as he doesn’t like artichokes.  And if you are a big meat eater, never, never, never order a pepperoni pizza in Italy…you’ll get bell peppers.

 

After an entertaining meal, we went towards the Rialto Bridge to turn in our Custom’s form for a VAT (sales tax) refund.  As it turns out, it would have been better to do this at the airport, as we had to check in there anyway.

The Rialto bridge was covered with drapes, it is being renovated.

 

We had arranged to meet another couple in the evening for drinks, and had a great time hearing about what it is like to live in Venice.

We stopped at an interesting place for dinner, and figured out it was the same place we ate at in 2012.  It was the day that BB King died, and the staff was playing his music.  It was a nice tribute to a man who was appreciated the world ‘round.

You may have heard stories of Venice “flooding all the time.”  It is a man-made island in the Adriatic Sea.  Seas are subject to tides.  Tides make the water go up and down.  Here are stock photos of the flooding.

 

 

This usually happens between November and April.  We got “lucky” and got to experience Acqua Alto.  Since it is tide based, they know ahead of time.  We heard it was supposed to reach its peak at about 9:30 PM that night and affect mostly Piazza San Marco.

Here are our pictures the night before, when it wasn’t too high.

 

 

Almost looks like a cruise ship!

We did have an interesting conversation with one of the shop keepers near the square about his preparations for the high water.  A lot of shops have little flood doors to help keep the water out.

 

At 7:30 Acqua Alto alarms went off…It sounded very serious.  Then there were red flashing lights in the areas that were going to be affected.  As it got closer to the high mark, we were amazed at how high the water was getting in the canals!

Not a great picture, but it does show how high the water was

 

We got within a couple of blocks of San Marco, but I didn’t want to go further and get my shoes wet.  What a wuss!

 

And to give the B.F. full credit, when he tells this story, he just says we couldn't get close, he doesn't say I was a major weenie! 

All over Italy there are immigrants in the touristy places selling junk.  This year Selfie Sticks were the big thing.  They also hand roses to unsuspecting women, then demand high prices from the men.  I kept my hands in my pockets.  At night, they sell light up helicopters and disco flashlights.  When it rains they sell umbrellas.  And, of course, at Acqua Alto, they sell disposable rain boots.  This was the only time I was tempted to buy something from these guys, but didn’t.  I chuckled at the ladies with pointy heeled shoes, knowing those heels would poke through the plastic in seconds and they’d have baggies full of water.

 

We are not sure what they did about the concert they were so busy setting up for in Piazza San Marco.

Maybe next time I will pack my own boots, just in case!