People watching also known as Wednesday

The first of my lighthouse pics. This one is called Murano Faro. Faro means lighthouse in Italian and this one is on the island of Murano in the Vanetian lagoon.  Pic isn't so great. I suppose that comes from being on a boat while taking it. :)

So my observations... Only tourists wear white tennis shoes. LOL!  Men and boys wear their pants properly. I like it. Old women and men ride bicycles. I want to do that when I'm old...and when I'm young. Guess I'd better get my bike out and get the tires pumped up. Children are children. They go to school, play soccer, misbehave, and get tired after a long day looking at things their parents are intersted in, and not enough gelato. People love their dogs and take them on the ferry and for walks on cobbled streets.

Now more pics...

From the Rialto bridge

This building is being restored. What you see is actually a big printed picture of what it will look like when finished. Pretty crazy what they do here so that tourists have a nice view. Notice the crane on the roof. The word for crane is gru. Yep, same as in Despicable Me. I laughed when I learned that Italian word. 

This is the Palazzo d'Oro on the right. The arches used to be gilded with gold to show how wealthy the owners were. 

A treasure I found during my Wednesday wandering. 

Another Wednesday wandering treasure. 

Ground level windows all have metal grates of some kind. Many are decorative.

Another Wednesday wandering treasure. 

Yet another Wednesday wandering treasure. This pwas the the upper part of the former hospital entrance. All of the statues have metal halos. Very interesting. 

I finally wandered into St Mark's square which was flooded. Many people of all ages had no shoes on and were playing in the water. So fun! As you can see the church is undergoing renovation. I didn't go in, but the mosaics under these outside arches were amazing!

Another pic of the flooded square. 

Around the corner and facing the water is the Doge's Palace or Palazzo Ducale. This is the inner courtyard. On the right of the pic is the water well that can be found in every square in the city. Once a man was elected and sworn in as Doge, he was only allowed to leave the palace with the Venetian council's permission. And leaving the city was a really big deal. I learned that before I toured all the rooms. Then in the three hours it took me to walk through the place, I realized that it wouldn't be so bad to be stuck in that palace. 

A fancy gondola under the portico in the courtyard. 

This was interesting... If someone knew of a crime someone had committed, they could write it down and put it anonymously in the mouth of this plaque. It would fall into a box inside. The complaint would then be investigated. Thousand year old "tip-a-cop" started by Venetians. 

The next few pics are from inside the political chambers of the Doge's Palace. There were rooms for each governing council: the Council of Ten, the Councils of Forty who were represented by a head council of each group. Anyway, this is actually one of the smaller rooms, but it gives an idea of the intricacy of the artwork and guilding in the council rooms. 

Not only did they have a clock that showed 24 hour time in this room...but also a face with astrological signs. Wish the pic was better. 

A view out one of the third floor windows. 

Another third floor window view looking down on the courtyard. 

Other direction out the same window. 

Detail in the wall of the courtyard. 

This photo is one of the paintings in the largest of the political assembly rooms. Can you find the man scratching the dog?

There was also an armory with an AMAZING collection. Swords, armor, crossbows, lances, guns. WOW! Speechless. There were about 12 cases like these two in one room. Impressive. 

I was quite tired after all that wandering. Took the ferry around the south side and discovered a place I want to go tomorrow.  It was a great day.