(Sorry all – these didn’t go out at the right time so “today” below isn’t today. We’re doing a little catch up)

Today was Friday (3/6), and we went to a fabric store near the Jewish Ghetto.  The fabric stores in Rome don’t have quilting fabric of any quality, but this store in Venice had about 50 quality bolts.  Almost double the price I would pay in the States.  We had a sandwich at a little soccer pub and it was divine.  Smoked salmon, mayo and egg.  Then we walked to the Ghetto.  The very first Ghetto in Europe was here in Venice and it was where the Foundry was.  Originally a ghetto was not as we think of it today, but just the foundry area where the Jews lived.  They were required to wear yellow scarves or hats to signify they were Jews but there was little persecution.  They were set apart because they had jobs that were forbidden to Christians such as money lending.  There are three synagogues in the Ghetto and a museum.  We met an interesting shop owner who sells his wife’s paintings.  She does paintings that are very folk-arty showing the Jews celebrating all the different holidays.  And she does cat paintings as if they were done by famous artists.  Instead of people in the paintings…there are cats.  They have a big, fat Orange cat who sleeps in a basket on the desk.  Of course, it is HIS gallery and the man and wife just work for him.  He got lots of pats, tickles and attention from us.  Then we went to a Kosher restaurant for lunch.  Wonderful place!  Called Gam Gam.  We had four appetizers and each was excellent!  One was eggplant with a tomato sauce.  One was hummus with whole chickpeas in it and ground beef.  Then had fried artichoke hearts with a sauce of sesame and parsley and then latkes…potato pancakes with fresh applesauce.  What a feast.  I think my favorite meal this whole year!  We hopped a Vaparetto right outside the restaurant back to St Mark’s and toured the Doges Palace.

The Doges were the Dukes who governed Venice for hundreds of years.  You have no conception of the size or grandeur of this place from the outside.  It goes on and on.  On one side are rooms that house the original colums that were part of the facade of the building.  One dates back to the 1420’s.  Across a massive courtyard attached to the Basillica on one end, you enter room after room, and floor after floor of magnificent rooms.  The staircase ceilings and walls are carved and guilded and painted.  Each room has beautiful ceilings and walls covered with art.  One wing houses ancient arms, crossbows and arrows, armor for men, boys and horses, some kind of bow that had two handles that you rotated to fire the bows.  Guns and something that might have been an early Gatling gun…it had about 10-12 barrels.  Then we got to the prisons…oh brother.  A wooden door about 3 feet high admitted you into a cell with stone beds…some had no beds.  No light, facilities, just a hole cut into the stone so the guards could look in.  A docent said they crammed them full.  We got to cross the famous Bridge of Sighs.  From the inside.  It is said you could hear the sighs of the prisoners as they crossed from the court that had convicted them to the prison as they saw the Grand Canal and Freedon for the last time.  After that tour, we were exhausted again and went to dinner and back to the convent for bed.  And the full moon to shine in our window.