Venice, the Final Tour

Back into Venice we went today, the last day on our water bus pass. We certainly got our money's worth on that ticket! The day started out with Bill waking me up by saying, "Holy cow (although he used another word), Cindy, it's almost 9 o'clock!" We couldn't believe we had slept that late. He was concerned because we had tickets for a tour of the Clock Tower in St. Mark's Square, and we had to pick up the tickets by 10:45. No time for breakfast before we left the hotel, but we made it to the ferry in time for the 9:35 departure and had a chance to grab capaccinos and pastry in Venice before our tour began. We were really happy with the tour; it was just the 2 of us plus the guide, a young girl who speaks Italian, Polish, Russian, French and English. She took us into a 'secret' door in an underpass right off the Square. Here are Bill and our guide at the entrance.

We went up a total of 132 steps, stopping at every level for an explanation of the history and working of the clock tower which was built in 1499. Much of it is original -- hard to believe it is in such good condition. The inner workings of the clock itself date from the 1700's. Here is a photo of the guide and me standing in front of the wheel that is part of the first ever digital clock!

Right after we finished up our tour on the top level, it started to rain, and our guide told us that the tower guard would be closing the upper 2 levels due to the rain. (Those are the only 2 levels that take you outside.) We were so thankful that we got to see the wonderful view and the 2 bronze bellringer statues with the bell (all from 1499) before the rain started. We asked the guide to take our picture with St Mark's Basilica in the background.
Cindy and I took the Vaparetto to San Giorgio the church that looks like it is floating on the water.

We went to the top of the bell tower and took panoramic photos. The one below shows a bell tower from one of the bizillion churches in Venice with the snow covered Dolomites in the background.

Oh by the way we found a Trattoria (small restaurant) we stopped in for lunch and yes a liter of red wine. I love these leisurely two hour lunches. You are nice and relaxed and all ready to go out and hit the trail touring the rest of the day and into the night. The last thing we did this evening before heading back to the hotel was to take the Vaparetto to the train station. From the train station we walked to the Jewish Ghetto. We went to the Piazza (plaza) where the Nazis rounded up over 200 Jews and shipped them off to the concentration camps in Germany. After the war only eight of them returned alive.