a little culture and a little smut

All the pigeons in Piazza San Marco... so disgusting!
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Since we are done with class everyday by one o'clock, we decided to take advantage of our afternoon off and went to some museums.

First, we walked to Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square), the largest square in Venice, located down near the waterfront where the grand canal meets the Adriatic Sea.

We saw all of the pigeons (read: rats with wings) - they are literally hundreds of thousands of them!

If you pay one euro, you can buy food and the pigeons will sit on your arms and head.

Abbey at the Doge's Palace
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People look like they're having fun when they do it, but to Abbey it looks like a really quick way to get rabies.

We walked to the Palazzo Ducale (the Doge's Palace) at the end of the Piazza San Marco.

The Doge's Palace dates back to the 9th century, and was the seat of the Venetian government, the Palace of Justice, and home of the doge (the leader of the Venetian Republic).

Inside, we saw the famed Scala d'Oro (the golden staircase) leading to the doge's private apartments.  Though they were bare in furnishings today, the ornate ceilings were stunning and the enormous chimneys were beautiful.

The view of Doge's Palace from Piazza San Marco
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Almost every wall is covered with an original work by Veronese, Tintoretto, or Titian - and they were beautiful.

Inside the balance, we also toured the Hall of the Great Council, the largest room in Europe - the entire ceiling and walls were covered with beautiful painted panels glorifying the power of the Venetian Republic (which once controlled the whole of the Mediterranean, and then some).

From there, we toured the prisons.  We began by crossing the Bridge of Sighs, named for the "sigh" that prisoners would make as they crossed this bridge and glimpsed the Venetian lagoon for one last time before entering the offices of the feared State Inquisitors and prison cells - likely never to see Venice again.

The Prisons at Doge's Palace
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We walked through the old, windowless jail cells - including one where Cassanova was imprisoned and escaped.

The tour ended with the rooms where the state prosecutors prepared for trials, and the room in which the Council of Ten (the judges of the time) would hear cases and appeals.  Being law school dorks, we loved it.

As we exited the palace, we got a great view of the Giants' Staircase, designed by Antonio Rizzo for ceremonial purposes.

Unfortunately, it was sprinkling outside, so all the tourists from St. Mark's had headed to St. Mark's Bascilica for cover from the rain - we'll have to save that for another day.

The view of the canal through the gates on the Bridge of Sighs, headed towards the Prisons
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On our walk back to our apartment, we passed by the Museo d'Arte Erotica - it was raining, and it looked somewhat interesting, so we decided to check it out (really, Abbey convinced Jen that it wouldn't be completely vulgur and that we may actually learn something).

The first floor of the museum was fascinating!  Paintings and artifacts detailed the secret, libertine side of Venice.

The exhibit included a description of courtesans in Venice, of poets and artists, and old sex-laws dating back to the 1200's.

The Museum of Erotic Art was very educational. And, lets be serious, pretty damn entertaining.
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An entire room was dedicated to Cassanova and his sex-capades in Venice, which was really interesting as well.

We headed up to the next floor hoping for more history - instead, the next three floors were full of modern, contemporary erotic art (in other words - smut).

Jen got one look at the porn-masquerading-as-art and headed for the exit; Abbey looked around a little but soon became equally disturbed.

We exited through the giftshop - usually or favorite part of the tour, but not here!

Ooooh the museum of erotic art... we will never forget you.
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Once back to the apartment, we had a lot of reading to do for the next day.  But, before getting started on that, we had some great dinner - we made Chicken Parm from scratch (well, except for the sauce... we're getting there).