Venice (Pt 2)

Our last day in Venice was a shocker weather-wise. It bucketed down. Unfortunately, we had planned on this day to walk around the city visiting different Biennale venues - which we did for a while - but then decided to do a few more 'indoor' activities! Here are some pics....

There was plenty of water pooling on the stone paving and a huge number of umbrellas - tricky passing in the narrow laneways!.... 

We dropped into the La Fenise Opera House in Venice to have a look around and avoid the rain. This is Marian and Laurie in the Royal Box, installed by Napoleon after he conquered Venice in 1797. In fact, most of the interior is new, to the precise details of the original (also rebuilt a few times), due to a fire in 1996 caused by the electricians who were going to be fined for not completing contracted work on time!.....

This is a large 1790's operable model of the building....

Random lolly store - pretend fruit!....

We spent some time in the Venice Naval museum which was very interesting and eclectic. It had lots of ships models from different eras. There was also a good collection of 3D map/models (for military purposes) from the late 1700's of different locations relevant to the Venetians, such as Corfu in Greece......

This massive canon from 1500's....

This stands as high as a person and is operated by 4 people, during WW2, on an Italian warship, to input data to calculate trajectory of guns - a very large, analogue 'computer', using calibrated gears etc....

These are the Venetian war ships produced en masse from the Arsenale in the 1500's....

They also had massive rowing ships where each guy had to use an oar 56kg in weight, three to a bench!....

This is a model of the last ceremonial boat for the Venetian Doge. They existed from about 1100 to 1800...

The prows of gondolas have an elaborate steel shape which has evolved over the centuries - different versions are shown in this pic. They have become smaller in the last few centuries, to get under the bridges, because the water level has increased 40cm since the late 1700's (likely due also in part to the buildings sinking)....

When Peggy Guggenheim arrived in Venice in the 1940's she had a gondola made and employed 2 gondoliers to take her around for the next 30 years - and why not - this is it....

Tiramisu on last night - great dinner about 1 minute away from our apartment....

Laurie's airport ferry departing on the Grand Canal early on Friday - he's off to Spain - we set off a little later to Nice, then Cotignac, in France.