Jan. 31
Venice
We left for St. Marco’s square at nine, so we could but tickets for the prison and the Doge’s Palace, but on the way we talked to a gondola man, who informed us that the gondola rides were 80 euro for all of us as opposed to 80 euro each. So we went on a gondola ride, but we got it for 70 euro, because we were stopping at the square. It was very fun to ride on the shiny, black gondola, even though it was rather rocky.
When we got to St. Marco’s square, Dad realized he had forgotten his expensive hat on the gondola! The gondola man was already gone though. So we bought our tickets, (did I mention it was INCREDIBLY cold out?) and had a tour of the Doge’s palace. First we went into a very tiny office of the Grand Chancellor, who was in charge of secret documents, and got paid 600,000 euro a year! Then, we went into a bigger office of his where the secretaries worked. It was very cold inside too, and there were no fire places in the rooms. Venice has the third largest archive in the world! (I am supposed to mention that yesterday Dad became the proud new owner of a three cornered hat.) Then we moved on to the torture chamber, where the only torture device was a rope, with which they would tie the person’s hands behind their back and pull them up, very painful I am told. Then we went to the cells. The doors were so small even Emily couldn’t get through without ducking. We went into the room where Casanova spent several months as a political prisoner. It was there we learned back then you could be executed for littering, or crimes against the environment. I think Venice must have been very clean. Now, back to Casanova, he was allowed to go for walks in the attic while he was prisoner, because he was too tall to stand up in his cell. He found a piece of metal, and a piece of marble up there, and he used the marble to sharpen the metal (iron it was) and made a hole in the floor so he could escape. The day he finished (he was going to leave the next day, because there was a political holiday then) when the guard came to his cell and told him he was moving. So Casanova put the iron in his arm chair, and black mailed the guard when he moved the bed and saw the hole, by saying to the guard that he (the guard) gave Casanova the metal to make the hole. Now, we moved on to the attic, and will finish the story later. In the attic there where lots of swords, about 100 or so, and it was rather chilly (I’m not supposed to complain about the cold too much) Then we went back down to Casanova’s other cell. There, it was not a private cell, so he couldn’t try to escape again; also the guard was watching his every move. But next to his cell was a priest who was there because he had 12 illegitimate children. They were both allowed books, and loved books, so they were allowed to share, and in the books they passed messages and came up with a plan to escape. Casanova asked for a great, big bible and hid the piece of iron in that so the priest could get them out. So first he carved a hole in his roof, and crawled up into the rafters, and made a hole above Casanova’s cell. (I didn’t really get this part) I think they made a hole in the wall of the cell, and walked right out the front door of the palace, and then they went to Paris. The funny thing is several years later they made him a secret agent! Then we went to the normal rooms which were full of lovely paintings, (here I will say something about the cold as it is important) as it was cold, we went quickly through the rooms, until we found the biggest… canvas, I think. It has five hundred saints in it, and it was painted by Tintoretto, the day he finished, his daughter died, and he painted her in as saint 501. Then we went to the common prison which we flew through, and then we went back to our apartment for lunch. After wards, we walked around and looked at churches and stuff… I love the masks here, they are so beautiful and I even found a unicorn mask! I am getting a mask some time, for Carnival!
Josephine.
We saw tons of people dressed up almost everyone was dressed up! There were at least 20 floats! Some up to 30 meters high! I felt soooo short :(
