And we are off . . . again!

We are on the road, or the train, again!  We are on the last leg of our journey which will take us to Perugia and from there we will commute to Assisi.  Venice has been a wonderful experience and we are grateful for the time that we had in this city.  The sun shone beautifully today and it gave a whole different feel to the place.  Once again we took the opportunity to walk the streets, enjoy the traffic on the Grand Canal and marvel at the rules of the canal and that they are not unlike the rules of the road.

One thing that we observed that particularly struck us, is that in this city tourists were welcome in all of the religious sites but only to look if they were not there to pray or participate in the service.  You might ask, how this was enforced?  There was always someone stationed in the church to let you know that mass was on so silence was essential, you must be dressed appropriately, cellphones had to be off or muted and there would be absolutely no photos.  Sacred spaces were just that.  Of interest as well were the many religious pictures and icons that could be found on the walk. Many of the local businesses would have religious symbols and pictures hanging over the cashier area.  While those of us in the church often lament the lower numbers of people attending and worshiping there was clear evidence that there is still an awe and respect for the divine, the great majestic symbols of the past are still important (if less essential) and people are still seeking to find the holy around them.

So to finish up here in Venice here a few pictures of how beautiful it is at night and a few from this morning as we walked and enjoyed the sunshine and sights.

Venice by night

The scene on the main street just outside our hotel

Beautifully lit up

Night shot of the canal

The Sun shone today making it lovely for a another bit of exploring

The bridges over the canal

And the traffic coming and going

More traffic shots on the grand canal

Boats park here like we park cars

One of the church domes

lots of traffic on the go today

The Bus

Thought you might like to see how the foundation of the houses look

St. Lucia and St. Jerome Church.  Its lovely bells work us every morning

Carnival week is on and here is a character posing

Lovely angle of the bridge, a more modern structure than the originals

One of the many well attended icons that could be found

A view from under a canal bridge.