3 Oct (Thurs) -Full day in Venice Gondola Ride- the other J

The day started with a long canal trip from our hotel to get to the island where St Marks Cathedral and Square are located. Then we had to walk across St Mark's Square to get to the Gondola stop. I joked with workmates before I came, that if I had a few drinks too many in Venice, I would be very confused because there was only water where the street should have been. I didn't know, that this actually happens! When it is high tide in Venice, the water really does seep up through the pavement and flood the street. This photo is St Mark's Square under water at high tide.

There is so much I could tell you and write about Venice, that Julie will have nothing left to say. So I will just give you a few things that struck me. 

The gondola terminus (for the want of a better word) was a bit like Southern Cross (Roma street) station in the rush hour.

And because the bridges are so small, to get under them, the Gondolier shifts his weight so that he does not have to bend down so far. When this happens the first time, it has a terrifying effect on us passengers. Here we are floating along enjoying the trip, when suddenly the boat tilts sideways and the top of the boat seems to be only about ten centimetres above the water line.... Just  a few precious centimetres from being tipped into the canal! 

After a while you sort of "get used to it" but the initial fright isn't helped by the Gondolier who continues to happily keep singing away, or crack jokes with the gondoliers going in the other direction whist we are inches away from drowning!

The other bucket list items were duly ticked. I visited the hospital where the great composer Antonio Vivaldi taught unmarried mothers to read and play music. It's amazing to think that his Four Seasons which is so popular and respected, started off as a classroom piece for these young ladies. I went into St Mark's Basilica where Gabrielli and other composers of the Italian School took Baroque music forward.

Gabrielli and his contemporaries thought in "stereo" long before it was actually invented. As you know in stereo system, you have the bass speakers on one side, and the treble on the other. When you sit in the middle, your ears and brain "mix" the two sounds together so that you get one unified whole. What these early Venetian composers did was the same thing. Put the high sounding voices and instruments on one side, and the low note sounds on the other.

Of course you have to have pretty good acoustics to do this. So despite many sights in numerous languages insisting on silence when inside the basilica, I couldn't resist clapping my hands a couple of times to test out the acoustics. Fortunately I didn't get thrown out because when the official looked over in my direction I glared at somebody else!

Julie might like to tell you about going into the Doge's palace, and our trip to another island in Venice called Burano where we had a very late lunch cooked by Chief who is in one of Jamie Oliver's cook books.