TRAVELS AND TRIBULATIONS # 331

May 14, 2022

Bonnie’s watch said we took 1450 steps today, which translated into 3/4 of a mile.  I say the watch is broken.  If we only walked 3/4 of a mile, why did it take us 4 hours.  Now granted we stopped to see two beautiful churches, and visited a gozillion souvenir stores, buying a couple of trinkets, but still.

Our route for the first half of our adventure was a familiar one.  Turn right out of our flat, go to the end of Callie de la Testa, turn right, go over the little bridge, go to Campo Santa Marina, past the CoOp where we buy our groceries, past the store that sells chocolate desserts, around the corner that is a pharmacy that does covid tests, but not on Sunday, into another large campo with a statute of a man on a horse (one leg is raised – the horse’s – so I think that means the rider was wounded in battle; two legs up and the rider was killed in battle; both hooves down, a natural death; no idea what happened to the horse), past the duck store of yesterday’s blog, past the gelato store that always has a line (maybe next time we’ll join the que), and over the Rialto Bridge.  We have that one down pretty good.  Or pretty well.

En route to the Basilica S. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, we stopped at the Church of San Polo (or St. Paul).  A church has stood on the site of San Polo since the 9th century, the one we visited today dates from the 15th century (remember you can click on the pictures and enlarge them).

The interior roof is called a “ship’s keel roof,” and it is the first of it’s kind that we have ever seen. 

Off to the side of the nave and the main area of the church is a small room called the  Oratory of the Crucifix.  It has 14 paintings by the Italian painter Giandomenico Tiepolo which follow Jesus from his trial to entombment.  They seem, by our calculation to be rectangular and 6 feet wide and 8 feet tall, or square at 5 by 5 feet.  Very dramatic and very moving.  The entombment painting is the first one I have ever seen like it.

Jesus carries his cross.

Jesus falls under the cross (Tiepolo represents Jesus falling 3 times).

Jesus is crucified.

Jesus entombed.

Another major painting inside San Polo is “The Last Supper” by Tintoretto.  

Tintoretto’s version is very different from the more recognizable one by Michelangelo where Jesus distributes the elements of the Eucharist in a way that is recognizable with traditional communion liturgy.  In this painting the sharing of the food is done by the disciples who give bread to a poor man and his child who are stretched out on the floor (almost like they are receiving healing).

Jesus reaches out his arms and gives bread to a disciple from each of his hands, and they are distributing the bread.  Judas is on the far left, outside of the circle with his back turned, prepared to take his bag and go to the high priest to make arrangements for the betrayal of Jesus.

Our planned major stop was the Basilica S. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari.  From the book I purchased about the Basilica comes this description: “One of the most important and vital religious and monastic centers in Venice, the Frari complex finds its roots in  the preaching of St. Francis’s message of simplicity and poverty.  With all due respect, there is nothing simplistic about it.

Both of these churches are active worship centers, a welcome development to be sure when so many of them are nothing more than museums.  Below are 3 pictures from inside, and a fourth of the carved altarpiece by Titian.

Behind the Basilica is still another church and this one houses more works by Tintoretto.  We would have gone to see it, but it is closed until, wait for it – all of you “Star Trek Generations” fans shout it out – until Tuesday.  So we will go back.  And in the same area is a Leonardo da Vinci museum which is described as showing inventions, drawings, and a gift shop.

Oh, we've passed this candy shop several times.

And this department store.  Actually the last letter, behind the umbrella, is "Y."

And some beautiful small canals.

Well, that’s enough from my memory and fingers, so I will turn the keyboard over to Bonnie.

Love,

Dad/Pappy/David

* * * * *

Well, the whistling started at 2 and I went to the couch and quickly fell asleep till 4 then went back to the bed till 7:30. I have determined the whistling is my nose not the machine. Oh my!  

We had breakfast eggs, toast, pancetta, hot chocolate. And I had some juice. Then off to bathe and get dressed. As we were going out the door we noticed our neighbors had sat out their garbage by the gate. It is supposed to be out by 8 but they were late picking it up today. Great we had time to put out ours. We hadn’t had a chance yet this week because we are always so late going out. So I ran back into the apartment gathered it up and sat it by the gate. Yeah me! 

We headed out to the Rialto bridge today again to find some churches. In the first church I attempted to light a candle. There was only one already lit and you had to light yours from it. Unfortunately when I leaned mine over the wax fell out and put out the other candle. Whoops. There was another candle on the other side of the church  burning so I went there to light mine and came back and tried to light the original and proceeded to put them both out! Finally we asked the ticket seller if he had a lighter and got both lit! Oh my!

There were lots of  interesting things today.  In one square there was a young lady with a table of wine glasses all filled with a different amount of water. She was using her wet fingers to make them sing and play songs. We heard her play Yesterday and the Nutcracker Suite. It was beautiful. She had a bucket set up for donations. I made a contribution.

We have in the last two days walked past shops where people were painting carnival masks. You could join a class for 40 Euros for 1 hour or 70 for 2 hours. Saw some very beautiful masks being painted. We have also seen a shop where people were making Mosaic pictures. Taking tiny pieces of colored glass and making pictures. Just two amazing things you could do.

We walked past a shop which I called “The Dollar Store”. It had all kinds of stuff and it reminded of the dollar booths at the flea market. We walked around and saw all kinds of things. One thing they had were mouse pads with pictures of different kinds of Euro notes we are going to buy one of them when we next go by it. There were little Mattel like cars and more stuff than you could imagine. Oh course I found a wonderful pocketbook store today with all hand made Italian leather purses. Oh my, it smelled so good.

On our way back we decided to stop in one of the little café like shops and get a sandwich for lunch. We got a large ham and cheese on a big bun and had them cut it in two pieces. When we got home I warmed it in our skillet. It was very tasty. We had our chips with it and a drink and some chocolate for dessert.

We walked a long way today and saw lots of people. There were lots of gondolas, taxis and boats all up and down on the canal. It was fun wandering around looking in the shops and seeing all kinds of shirts, Murano glass, hats and all kinds of touristy stuff.  When we got back I was really tired. We took a good nap.

After our nap he worked on the blog and I made a list for our next trip to the coop, or grocery store to you.  Then we went to supper. Tonight I had lasagna. It was delicious. At first a young couple was beside us and they had a plate of seafood and a large plate of French fries, I am having the French fries tomorrow night, and your Dad ordered a spaghetti covered with clams, mussels, calamari, and shrimp. After they left a couple from Canada sat beside us and we had a nice conversation. 

 A very enjoyable time. Before we left the restaurant I asked the young lady who is the only server in this small restaurant if she ever got a day off. She said no, but comes in late one day a week. Wow. She has been very nice to us. It is a pleasure to see her. After we paid for our supper , we went up the street to find some gelato. You have to have dessert. Now we are back in our apartment in our pjs and we just finished watching an old NCIS on tv. Ice Age 4 was coming on but we are not going to watch any more TV tonight. These were all in English.

Well, tomorrow is Sunday and it will be interesting to see what is open and what is closed. Dad had looked on a web site and there are currently 2 or 3 cruise ships here but they are all parked out in the industrial area. 

Goodnight to all. Love Mom, Granny and Bonnie

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