It was an overcast day, but we had to be at Piazza San Marco before noon for the appearance of the Wise Men on Epiphany 2011. This has been planned since 1493 when the Doge commissioned a giant (cuckoo :) clock for the great nation of Venezia. It was completed in 1499, so, for 512 years this has been going on (plus the first one about 1500 years earlier). Couldn't miss it, so Ferry and I got down there in time to meet Bob, Ewa, and Felicite, (whom you'll meet). The scene was casual, not too many people for this event...
And we had good seats...
lower right, there on the Acqua Alta ramps...
Note that those gold doors above the clock face and below the Winged Lion of Venice are closed, as they always are..
and the giant bronze bell, with its 2 giant bronze bellringers ready to ring that bell with their mallets. And the seagulls, checking out what the population of the piazza may be offloading today.
A door opens, d*** this is amazing.
Why I refocused I have no clue, but it does show that those bells are sounding loud and clear.
There, the 3 Kings from the Orient are being lead by a trumpeter on their yearly journey around the circle.
You've seen the closed doors already, so,
The event is over and everyone, including us is thrilled, bells, giant Venetian dolls, and more belles.
Three of us are off to visit il Palazzo del Doge. Guess who,(
plus no photos allowed).
Just after we got in to the courtyard we began to look for the entry to the palace itself..
With no photography allowed, it requires some thinking, here is the Doge's view of San Georgio Maggiore...and its little yacht harbor from what is probably the world's largest room. We had to wisk out through a tiny -secret- door to get over to the cafeteria...
Here we are eating lunch at the Doge's palace! with a view of gondolo passing by...
We had to get back to the tour to see the prison cells and the view from the Bridge of Sighs,
Ah, just about the same as the Doge's view...
We went back to the courtyard to check out the "Giant Staircase"
Getting ready for the photoshoot...
Hmm
This seems to be something between Antonioni and Nabokov...
We got out of there without being totally trampled
.
but>>>
...can't let the parents see this in color.
So, just one more shot to show why we went to San Marco on January 6th, 2011
This is about 1/30 of the frame, showing the Holy Family with the Wise Men and their bugler.
A fun afternoon and a rare event.
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