San Marco's Square in Venice

The first thing that we did after getting to the famous Saint Marc’s square in Venice was get something to eat. We walked down the tiny alleyways filled with designer shops. The road that couldn’t have been more than ten feet wide consisted of high-end stores like Versace, Gucci, Georgio Armani and Prada. Knowing that there was no way I could spend a lot of money, I passed the stores just staring in the windows at the fashionable clothes.

After lunch we purchased admission passes to the bell tower in San Marco square. When the doors from the elevator opened I walked to the edge of the confined area to get a good look at the view below. I stuck my camera through the square holes that have been formed by the cage of barbed wire that covered the window to insure that no one would tumble out of the tower. The whole city of Venice could be seen from the high rise. In the distance were the small the islands of Murano and Burano. The terra-cotta rooftop shingles looked as if they could go on for miles. Just as we were about to return to the bottom of the tower the gigantic bells began to swing back and forth piercing my ears with their loud chiming sounds.

The never ending Doge museum in the square was filled with large rooms for used for political debate and chambers fro prisoners. I walked up the Golden Staircase which had been elaborately decorated by Alessandro Vittorio. The Staircase led to the rooms of Doge’s apartment and others for governmental speeches. I found it sort of strange that at one time there were prisoners staying in the same building as the leader of the city. The chambers were empty concrete rooms with heavy wooden doors that would impossible to escape from. I finally saw the daylight again after spending nearly three hours in the museum.

My parents and I walked around the corner to San Marco’s Basilica. Inside the church were five large domes and chairs that replaced the usual pews. The inside of the church was definitely not as impressive compared to the beautiful frescoes on the domes of the outside.