Let's go inside the clock!

Good morning, Venice.  Our first day in Venice started with a relaxing breakfast in the breakfast room of the hotel, consisting of a variety of pastries and hot dishes. This is the breakfast patio looking both directions,

After breakfast we boarded the crowded Vaporetto and went to St Mark's Square. Although the main canal was busy, we were able to get a few pictures including the Rialto Bridge.

The Rialto Bridge from the Vaporetto

We had a reservation for a tour of the clock tower - the Torre dell'Oroligio - for noon, so we had time to walk around and just enjoy this amazing place.  It was a little crowded, but not as bad as it could have been.  

St. Mark's Square

We noticed that they had elevated walkways (not shown) all stacked up in the square for whenever the water flows into the square, which we found out that they might be expecting to happen tonight.

When the time came for our tour, we were escorted by a guide to the clock tower, which is located just to the left of Saint Mark's Cathedral. 

The Clock Tower

The narrow entrance door.

We walked up five stories of stairs, with some stops along the way to view the mechanical parts of the clock and get explanations from our guide.

View from the 2nd floor of the tower 

550-year-old clock mechanism 

This was a very interesting tour, and the stairs were not a problem to our old legs.  We made it up to the top of the tower where the bell is and two bronze figures who strike the bell hourly. 

The bonus from the top was great views of all of Venice as well as Saint Mark's square.

Neighborhoods from the top of the bell tower.

The two-master mechanics of the clock were made its caretakers, beginning the tradition that the clock’s keepers live in the tower with their families.

On Ascension Week and Epiphany, carved figures of the three Magi emerge from the clock face and bow to the Virgin Mary above them. An angel raises a trumpet in recognition of them, and the Magi bow in return.

Carved figures

Karen and Carla going down the winding staircase.

The view from the top - 5 stories up!

After our tour we wondered some streets to find lunch and eventually found the perfect place and enjoyed warm pizza and sandwiches.  We decided to go back to the hotel and rest our feet (especially Karen's very painful foot).  We walked across the Rialto bridge to take the Vaporetto back and that is when the problem happened!  If you will remember, when we arrived in Venice, we bought 5 day passes for the Vaporetto which we have to scan each time we get on a Vaporetto.  Carla could not find her pass in her purse, so she and Mike spent some time searching the purse for it and finally decided that it was lost and so they had to both squeeze through the gate when it opened with Mike's pass.  If they had cameras there, Carla's mug shot is now on the wall of the Policia station.  Anyway, we made it back to the hotel without Carla being arrested and not long afterward, her pass was found in her secret waist wallet.  Ugh!!!

After relaxing, we had a need for gelato, so we all went out and got gelato and spent a long time just strolling around and loving the atmosphere and beauty of Venice.

 After time to ourselves for a few hours, we ate dinner in an outdoor restaurant near our hotel. Like everywhere, the food was great.