Venice Day 2 and days thereafter

Palm Sunday in Venice and also my first morning. Waking up and walking out to see the canal and subsequently the bridge over the canal was lovely. It was extremely quiet that early in the morning and I trusted completely in the posted signs to find my way down to the Basilica San Marco for mass. Mass overall was a bit disappointing as the priest was a bit elderly and kept losing his place. It's a gorgeous place to get bored though, with gold and mosaics everywhere. After that service got out, I headed over the Academia Bridge to St. George's Anglican church for English-speaking Palm Sunday.

For some reason, Venice can't get palm branches so we were given olive branches instead which reminded me of Jon's post on "Using your palm branch as a weapon of mass sibling destruction". The service was very British with the head elder announcing every single hymn in a very precise way and even fluffing the cushions where we knelt at the altar. The temporary pastor is from Tanzania and preached a great sermon on how the people in Jerusalem had completely misunderstood Jesus (looking for a political saviour) and eventually turned on Him and killed Him because Jesus didn't do what they wanted Him too. The pastor connected this to modern day when people are all too eager to attach Jesus to their personal political agenda or party.

After service they served tea and biscuits and I socialized with fellow visitors who were happy to not miss a Sunday even though they were on holiday.

I made it back to the apartment a bit later than planned (all those darn olive branches poking out of purses!) and Christine and I wandered around the neighborhood and had dinner at a local place.

After Sunday, everything falls into foggy vacation territory. We spent one day island hopping which was fun (but tiring), but our days fell into a comfortable rhythm.

• Early morning: wake up when we felt like it and have breakfast of bread and cheese or fresh pastry.
• Morning: go our separate ways to wander and shop, mostly for food for lunch
• Noonish: meet back at the apartment for lunch and a chat
• One-ish: Siesta!
• Afternoon: more independent wandering or we'd get gelato and sit on the canal, dangling our feet over the edge. Go home and make dinner
• Seven-ish: eat freshly made dinner and have a glass of wine
• Evening: read, chat or watch a DVD

We only really ate at three restaurants and only the pizza place nearby was worth talking about. I had a freshly made pizza that was wonderful, but the funniest part was the company. When we walked by the place, I knew it was good because there were so many Carabinieri there. The Carabinieri really has no US equivalent, but it's a military/police officer position and if a pizza place is full of them, the food must be good.

It was. And while there we were treated to the sounds of local families coming in for dinner and bringing in their precious pooches. Unbeknownst to me, Christine does not like dogs. A cute little Pomeranian-like dog trotted over to our table. I petted him but it was as if he knew that Christine didn't like him and he went straight for her. She said something to the effect of "Go away, little dog," in a cheerful way after which the little dog put a single paw on her knee as if to say, "There, there, I'm not so bad."

Most of the remainder of the trip I remember in vignettes which I'll post a bit later. It was a wonderful trip and I look forward to when I can return!