One Day You'll Find Me

Chapter Thirteen

Carlo was just as happy to see us the next morning. The same table was reserved for us. This time he brought us croissants (he called them brioche) and small doughnuts (which he called krafen), peaches, and the same coffee. When we'd finished, he came and sat with us, excited to see what we thought of the Doge's Palace. So we told him in animated language. As the conversation turned to the market, I remembered to ask him what the ponds were. Apparently they were well-heads.

"Oh well, I was close."

Rosina groaned. I just grinned at Carlo.

The marketplace where we'd bought all our fruit was the main one, called Al Marco. He was glad we'd found it. Today, he told us to visit St Mark's Basilica. They were the two sights we had to see first. Once we'd done them, he'd start us on other things, like markets and walks. The Campanile he told us to visit last. That way, when we were up in the tower, overlooking most of Venice, we would be able to see where we had been. I hadn't thought of it that way before.

Off we trotted, like good little girls, back to the Piazza. But this time we went inside the many-domed building of St Mark. The outside of the building was magnificent. Six huge archways and three domes could be seen from the Square. Many spires rose from its roof. Above the middle arch were the four bronze horses. These ones were replicas of the originals, but they were still amazing to see. As we passed beneath an arch, I realised that inside each arch was a beautiful mosaic picture. 

The Basilica was the most famous church in Venice, and a part of it was now a famous museum- where the original horses were. As we entered the building, we came to this massive, insanely vast open space. There were balconies halfway up, under which were more huge arches. The whole room was more or less keyhole shaped. Once you passed the balconies, you were suddenly standing in the middle of a circular area. Covering the entire space was this ornate ceiling that had many dips and arches in it. Then, the majority of the room (including the ceiling) was coloured gold. And the floor was marble! I was blown away. It's really hard to describe what it was like. It was truly amazing. 

Everywhere you looked there were beautiful statues, paintings, carvings; architectural genius. It was just inconceivable how vast the area was. Even if this one little bit of the Basilica was all I saw, I was happy with that. Even more so when I realised two things, that the ceilings and the walls were in fact mosaics, and that we had fifteen minutes to admire the Basilica's beauty. I laughed. I guess it made sense; thousands of people would come through the building every year. But fifteen minutes? That was a joke. I only realised this when I looked at the tickets we were issued to get inside. Neither of us had paid attention to the man giving them to us. Maybe we should have. However, there was really no way for them to tell us to get out, so we leisurely took our time. Eventually, though, we had critiqued every reachable inch of the Basilica, and were hungry. We skipped the museum this time round.

We thought of Paolo, and tried to find his cafe. It took a while, but in the end we arrived there. He wasn't working though. Disappointed, we ordered and sat down outside. Rosina had lost the piece of paper which he'd given her, and the man working didn't know who he was. We'd essentially lost all contact with him.

This time, we were able to take in the square better. Most of the buildings were houses, and the cafe was the only one. But there was a quaint bookshop that I laid eyes on, and was determined to visit after we'd eaten. I still wasn't up for seafood, and neither was Rosina. Pasta dishes for us again. We chose different ones from the meals we'd had yesterday, and they were also delicious. A relaxed hour or so later, I made my way over to the bookshop. It was a second-hand one, and I breathed in the brooding atmosphere. It was reasonably big, and had books spilling off the shelves into piles on the floor. My type of shop. I perused the shelves and piles, gradually filling my arms with a good collection of books, since many were in English. Rosina had joined me by now, and we both had a fair stack of books. When we were both ready, we paid and carried our purchases back to the hotel. In our room, we collapsed on our beds, with a book and a plate of fruit. It was a blissful, relaxing afternoon.