My feet are tired...

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We had a full day today. We started our day by stopping in a coffee shop and ordering "due espresso macchiatos per favore" and drinking our little espressos at the counter. After we finished our morning coffee, we found our way to the Frari Basillica. This church has a lot of artwork in it so that's why we wanted to see it. Their pamphlet said no photos but people were walking around with cameras and go pros taking pictures and recording everything so I decided to take a few pictures myself. I'm a rebel. The famous painter Tiziano Vecellio (aka Titian) is responsible for the beautiful altar piece, and is buried there. He died of the plague and despite rules about where plague victims were to be buried (due to sanitation reasons) he was interred in the Friari Bascillica. His mausoleum was commissioned to Canova in 1790 (buried across the nave from Titian), but was left incomplete as both funds fell short, and the Venetian empire fell to the Austrians. In 1838 the Austrian emperor Ferdinand I was visiting and decided to finish the mausoleum and commissioned Luigi Zandomeneghi and completed in seven years.

See Tommy?

After we saw everything in the Frari Basillica we wandered over to San Mark's Square. We were going to try and go up to the top of the tower but the line was really long. So we opted to have gelato and people watch until our tour with Walks of Italy.

Strawberry and lemon, the strawberry tasted a little artificial but the lemon was amazing

Our view while we rested our feet

We signed up for a tour that took us through San. Mark's Basilica and the Doge's Palace. Our tour guide was very nice and very knowledgable. He was also quite the comedian and kept us chuckling throughout the tour. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the basilica and there were guards walking around to make sure nobody took pictures. The walls and ceiling are covered in mosaics with lots of gold leaf used so the entire ceiling was sparkling golden, absolutely beautiful. Here are some pictures from outside the basilica and the Doge's Palace.

The four horses on the basilica balcony

On the balcony overlooking St. Marks' Square

This is a mosaic on the front, so imagine this all over the entire ceiling on the inside

The Doge's Palace

A ceiling in the Doge's Palace

To answer Hannah's question, the prisons are no longer used, but this is a cell that one of the inmates would have lived in.

Remember the Bridge of Sighs from yesterday? Here is the view from inside. It's named the Bridge of Sighs because the prisoners would get one last look at Venice before their execution and sigh

After the tour, we wandered over to the Church of San Zaccaria which is pretty close to San. Mark's square. We wanted to go here because the crypt was open and we can't pass that up. Apparently I was a little too excited to get down the stairs because I slipped and slid down the last two stairs... my pride was injured more than my tuckus. Although I suppose I'm lucky, in all the narrow spiral stairs I've walked on, this is the first time I've slipped!

outside the church

in the crypt

Today we are going to a couple museums and cruising the canal in a water taxi! It's supposed to be sunny all day.