Day Five - May 26, 2012

Venice, Italy

High Point: Theresa alone in the Frari church

Miles By Foot: 10

Today's Antiquities: The Pieta by Titian

Today's Weather: Hard rain in the morning. Very nice, in the seventies and sunny in the afternoon.

Tonight's Lodging: Siestre San Polo apartment of Guiseppi and Daniela

Touristic Events: The Frari Chapel, the Academia, The Scuola De Rocca and the Chapel De Rocca

Travel Tip: If an old man invites you into the Frari chapel before tour hours, say yes.

Daily Didactic

Today started early with a search for coffee and wifi. As great as the apartment we are renting has turned out to be, it lacks the internet and we were hoping to get these pages uploaded. We managed to find both coffee and wifi in the square next to the the Frari chapel, a few minutes from home. While Brian futzed with the internet, Theresa wandered around the Frari until a old man invited her inside. Typically this would be a cause for concern, but in the case of a 1400's church full of Titian paintings it was a really big deal. In fact, according to the art historian in the family, the day was full of "really big deals", mostly in the form of paintings. We walked south to the Academia (a museum full of "real big deals") and then onto St. Mark's square. Here we decided the cruise ship crowd on this end of the island was a bit much and we would come back for this set of museums in the morning. We headed back up island and visited the Scuola De Rocca and did the Frari chapel again with an audio tour. Having had a healthy dose of culture for the day, we took a quick nap, had another pizza (the "cheap" path of least resistance here) and called it an evening.