Venice, the sinking city. We had sunny weather but it was not nearly as warm as I expected it to be.
Venice, the sinking city. We had sunny weather but it was not nearly as warm as I expected it to be. | |
 | I'm a sucker for well lighted statues, and the morning sunlight really brought this one of St. Mark to life. |
This was taken at San Marco's cathedral in the main square. I know I jabber on and on about this area in my log but it really was fantastic. The horses behind us are famous. Largely due to the fact that such detailed bronze sculpting was all but unheard of when they were made in the early 1400's. The horses seen here are actually replicas, the real ones were stored away inside for protection from the elements. |  |
 | I was amazed by how quickly we saw the bulk of Venice. Towards the end of day two we decided to catch a boat to the island of Murano where all the Venice glass making shops are. This place was even quieter than Venice. |
Gondola traffic jam. I would hate to see this place during the summer when there are tourists swarming all about. Reminded me a bit of the queue at Small World in Disneyland. |  |
 | You know, Pete's nickname is muppet, due to his resemblance to such fuzzy puppets in several past pictures, however this picture certainly suggests a reversal of situation. I look positively constipated in this image. |
We got bored with Venice and decided to look into Verona and Milan. Verona, according to the Green Guide - which is not entirely trustworthy, is apparently very much like Venice in terms of art and history since it was part of the Venetian empire. So we decided upon Milan since I knew there was more variety there. This photo is of the Sforza Castle, which holds a huge collection of rubbish. The building itself was impressive though. |  |
 | Most important however was the Sala De L'Ase which is a room inside Sforza that was painted by Leonardo. At first glance, Muppet and I were not particularly impressed, I even suggested that we move on... and that's when the room worked it's magic. It was incredible, the more we looked at the walls the more fascinated we became by the intricate winding knots of vines and golden bark. So stunned were we that we ended up just sitting down for ten minutes to marvel at the work. This was, without a doubt, the best part of the trip for me. I think Pete felt much the same. I've said it before and I will say it again, you just "know" when you are in the presence of the great masters. The Sala was certainly proof of that. Incidentally, the Sala was not even mentioned in the Green Guide, hmmm... |
This is the Milan Cathedral. It may look nice, but there is little that is actually of historic value (the original Duomo spires got the crap bombed out of them during WWII). |  |
 | I know I have tonnes of cathedral interior photos, but the lighting made this shot particularly attractive. |