The Grand Canal 2

The canal water is rising. You can see decks going from the "dry land to the interior of buildings. Sometimes the water level is higher than the ground floor, so it has to be abandoned.


I can imagine a nice patio outside a restaurant in the old times here (image below), but now, the space is no longer usable.


Guess what this hole is? Water taxi station!


The canal branches into little waterways. Only taxi and small boats can go through. This image below is taken outside the hotel that I stayed.


Venice is beautiful!

BTW, Chinese pickled vegetable and pork noodles (spaghetti) look like this in Venice. Tasted OK....

The Grand Canal 1

I asked the staff in Locanda Silva (the hotel where I stayed) how to get to the main train station. She told me that I can take the bus. I had no idea what she was talking about because I did not see any vehicular roads on the little island. Then, the light bulb was lit. She meant the water bus. Bus means public transportation!



The bus runs mostly on the grand canal. I hopped on to the bus and had a general tour on the grand canal.


Venice is like a 3-D postcard. Everywhere is so beautiful and articulated.


Narrow canals can only allow taxis and service boats to go through.


Here is the early morning delivery boat....


Pink ...


Yellow....


Orange....

Doge's Palace

It is the residence of the Doge (duke) in the 15th century. The current palace (building on the right below) was constructed between 1309-1424, and very well decorated. It is right next to the Basilica of San Marco.




It has a grant interior court, and the stairs led you to the second level, where a lot of ball rooms and conference rooms are.



The ceiling of the "Golden Stair" below. The images are not paintings. They are sculptures!



Each capital of the exterior columns has its own unique design. They represent things like seasons, daily lives, person's life, fruits, animals and birds of Venice.....etc.

My Dream Vacatio Started!!! Basilica San Marco

My dream vacation started after 5 days of construction at New Orleans. I followed my church's mission team to help a widow to repair her house that was damaged in Hurricane Katrina 4 years ago.

First day that I arrived at Venice....14 hours of sleep! Then, the first stop was San Marcos, a very beautiful bascilla and square. The picture below was taken in late afternoon. The designer designed the golden mosaic facing the late afternoon sun. Look at the shine!



I climbed to the patio on San Marcos....


....the view to the canal was gorges! The building to the left is a palace.

Inside San Marcos, there are a whole bunch of incredible mosaic arts....







From this trip, I learned that most of the precious and incredible art work were done for churches, and have religious themes. It made me wonder, when everybody focuses on God, the final result was so amazing! As in Psalm, it was written that if it was not God who build the houses, the builders are wasting their effort.

Pacifici Atelier movie

A new ad of my office:
http://www.impactmovie.com/pacific_atelier/