Venice: The final chapter

Last week I finally finished off my trip to Strasbourg, and today I bring you an even older voyage - my November 2010 trip to Venice. I've already posted photos of Venice in Venice Wanderings by Water and Land, Around St. Mark's Square, Signs of Venice, St. Marks - details, St Mark's Interior, and Acqua Alta! and written about the trip in Venice Day 1, Venice Day 2 (original) and Last Day in Venice. Yet, unbelievably, there's more! I think I mentioned in one of the posts that I took 846 photos in the few days I was there. I had a pretty exhausting time of it, and saw a lot, although there was still lots of stuff I didn't get to see that I would have liked to. Even so, I'm not sure whether I'd go back. I left satisfied with my trip, let's put it that way. As you can see from the titles, most of the photos I posted already were wandering around Venice and in and around St. Mark's.

So I will finish up with photos from the main "sights" I went to, starting with the Accademia Gallery, which I saw on Day 1:

One of a series of trompe l'oeil paintings hung high up in the gallery


I wish I knew who this unfinished painting was by. Amazing use of perspective.




I learnt on my tour of the Doge's Palace that this technique - tying someone's hands behind their back and stringing them up - was the favoured way of torturing prisoners


Old painting of gondolas on the canals


Detail of someone taking his widdle doggie for a boat ride

Afterwards, I went to the Scuola di San Rocco, where the ceilings are dripping with canvases by Tintoretto. I got told off for taking photos, but it was worth it. Magnificent.

I finished up my first full day in Venice with a vaporetto ride down the Grand Canal by night:





On Day 2 I took a tour of the Doge's Palace, visited St. Mark's Cathedral and did a bit of wandering around the Ghetto, all of which is covered in text and photos in earlier posts (although here's a couple of extra photos of the courtyard of the Doge's Palace).







However, I've yet to post any pictures of the inside of the La Fenice opera house, where I also took a (audioguide) tour that day. As I recall, they were pretty strict on taking photos, but here's a few I managed to sneak in:


The lobby


One of the reception rooms upstairs


The ceiling in the opera hall itself


Me reflected in the mirror in I suppose the royal box or something

A few more miscellaneous shots:

Venice wanderings by water and by land

My second set of Venice photos today, these are just photos of my wanderings through the streets and canals of Venice. I'm afraid if I ever knew any of the details of where I was/what I was looking at, I've probably forgotten now! Thus I present these snaps largely without commentary - you can pretend you're wandering lost in Venice too :)


Statues and masks:




Views of and from the Rialto Bridge and the surrounding area:

Palaces on the canal front:

Islands in the lagoon:

Il serenissimo:

Venice hospital:

New handbag!

On the Grand Canal:

Gondolas:


In and around the original Ghetto:

St Mark flag:

Dining alone - always a depressing experience. Made more so when the waiter keeps ignoring your requests to pay and starts dumping stuff from the tables he's clearing around you onto yours:

Churches:

Chocolate!

Some of the smaller canals: