Venice Day-4: Acqua Alta

Well the rains finally came. But rather than the rain being an issue, the wind associated with the front pushed the Adriatic into the lagoon an extra couple feet at high tide and we experienced an actual Acqua Alta (literally "water high") today.

We started out this morning in Dorsoduro to visit the Scuola Dei Carmini, where Lacey's favorite artist, Tiepolo, (learned about from a "Magic Treehouse" book) painted a ceiling in the 16th century. Unfortunately, they decided to open several hours later than usual (this IS Italy), so had to go with Plan B and visit the Doge's Palace first.

When we got back to Piazza San Marco we could see the lagoon waters were already right up to the top of the wall with 2 hours remaining to high tide. Workers were already setting up the boardwalks in anticipation of an Acqua Alta. Meanwhile, we ducked out of the weather into the palace.

This place is yet another opportunity for sensory overload. It is huge and way over the top in gold leaf and renaissance paintings on just about every flat surface. We lost count after 30 rooms. A lot like Versaille in that there are no furnishings in the place - Napoleon made off with most of it. Much to the kids' satisfaction we did get to walk across the Bridge of Sighs to the prison.

After giving up on listening to every detail of the audio guide after 3 hours we finally finished up in the palace to head back to Dorsoduro. When we got to the exit we were greeted by the entire Piazza San Marco under solid water (see pic). Before leaving home we received a good tip to bring the Wellies along given the time of year. Good use was made of these today. You can see everyone up on the board walks. In the middle of the square there was a good foot of water. With a whole city living with canals and no streets, you see a lot of unique things afloat: ambulances, the fire brigade, hearses, refrigerated barges for food, etc. In the square you also have police in waders at the intersections of the boardwalks directing all the foot traffic to keep people moving. Once out of the square we had to go weaving through the rabbit warren of alleys to find a non-flooded route to Dorsoduro. Actually, kinda fun. By the time we got back to the Scuola the sun was back out and the water was retreating quickly. An hour later when we got back to the Vaporeto landing on the Grand Canal they were already stacking the boardwalk.

After our last dinner tonight we made one more trek via a new exploratory route across to Piazza San Marco. We realized that here we were, feeling our way through neighborhoods we'd never been to before, had no idea exactly what was there, in the dark, and feeling perfectly safe and at ease. You have to love this place. When we got to the piazza it was all lit up for the night and dry again. Music also filled the air from an orchestra serenading one of the restaurants. Very pretty.

Found out tonight that public transit is all on strike tomorrow, which will make it interesting getting to the airport. When I asked the hotel for suggestions on this their first was to simply stay an extra day. Tempting, very tempting.

TWG
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Via Blackberry

Originally sent October 22, 2009