I had a great adventure today.

As I mentioned in the last entry, today Susan and I were doing our own thing until 3pm. I was up until 12;30am working on the blog and didn't set an alarm. My sleep hasn't settled into its normal routine yet, and I awoke at 10am. I didn't think I was physically capable to sleeping until 10am. That got me out the door much later than I expected, which was a little annoying.

As you would expect, there are Catholic churches all over Venice. Some are free, but some charge a 3 euro entry free. Most of the entry fee churches have gotten together to create a "choral pass" for 12 euro that gives you one entrance to each church. My goal for the day was to buy the choral pass and see how many churches I could hit.

Venice has 5 neighborhoods, similar to the 5 boroughs of NYC, but much smaller. In my trip planning I had found the churches I wanted to see in each neighborhood and gave each a rating of A to C, with A being a "must". Some of churches I wanted to see were freebies and not part of the choral pass. I started walking and popped in any church I passed, knowing I'd be lucky if I made it to 5 of the choral pass churches, given how far apart they are and the previously mentioned logistical challenges of walking from Point A to Point B.

Went to the first few churches, toured, lit a candle for Mark in each, and moved on. As I was mapping out how to get to an "A" church that was way out of the way, I noticed a freebie "C" church I would pass. I always already running low on time and almost blew it off; however, the name of the church is the Church of San Simeon Piccolo, and my old next door neighbor in Reynoldsburg was a 88 year old Italian immigrant whose name is Piccolo. I thought I'd run in the church and see if there was a bulletin or something I could pick up to give him. I go in, and there is one man praying and a couple other people who left shortly after I entered. I walk around, light a candle, and then head to a small table with handouts on it. The man who had been praying comes over and starts talking to me in Italian. He gave me a handout explain the history of the church (in English) then starts pointing at a door. I have no clue what he is saying, but he is clearly asking me a question. I look around and see a handwritten sign that says Crypt, 2 euros. Why no? Sure, I'll see the crypt. I pay and he hands me a lighted small taper candle with a plastic cover to catch the wax. Oooooookay. I head through the door and down the stairs. When I get to the bottom, it quickly becomes very dark with a light ahead. I walk toward the light, which was lighting up an alter. The light was a halogen work light rigged up to hang from the ceiling, and it was the only light in the entire crypt. So, the alter is in the center, and from the center there are four hallways (laid out like a cross). Along the halls there are individual doors that are about as high as my chin (I'm assuming they were family burial rooms). Most of the doors have been removed. They walls and ceiling are beautifully painted, but in a state of deterioration. I start walking down each hallway, which aren't pitch dark , but they are pretty darn dark. It was a little spooky. The floor wasn't totally even, so I'm walking slowly, shining the candle along the wall and into the individual crypts, but I can't see much. Then I do something I probably should not have done…I started taking pictures. They pictures are showing me what I can't see. My little point and click is coming out with great pictures, taken by candlelight. When I get to the fourth hallway, I realize it isn't a dead end. It has a 'loop' behind it, which was even darker than the rest of the place. As I returning from exploring it, kinda creepy organ music starts coming from the church above. Holy. s***. I go back to the alter in the center, put all my stuff down, and pull out my smart phone to start taping because I realize there is no way I can adequately describe this experience. I re-walk through the hallways taping, with the organ music in the background. I've attached two videos, check them out, but be sure you have the volume turned up so you can hear the organ.

I go back upstairs, the organ music stops, and the guy comes out…I think he was playing the organ. No one else is in the church. I tell him 'grazie, grazie' and pat my heart to try and show him how much I liked the crypt. He says something in Italian, then gestures for me to follow him. At this point I am fully invested in this relationship and will follow him anywhere. He takes me into a backroom of the church where there is a sculpture, and he describes it in great detail. I have no clue what he said. Then he tells me to follow him again. This time he takes me into the sacristy, where there is a large oil painting hanging, and again, he says a bunch to me that I don't understand. After that the unofficial tour was done and I left. Wowzers.

After that I went to the church that was way off the beaten path, but it was closed for lunch (I assume…the sign was in Italian). By then, I was running low on time and had to get back to the apartment to meet up with Susan.

The rest of the day was typical tourist stuff. We took a ride down the Grand Canal from start to finish while listening to the Rick Steves app that described what we were seeing. We went on a wild goose chance to this small island that offers great views of central Venice. However, by the time we go there, it was dark and an unbelievably think fog had fallen. You couldn't see 30 feet away, much less across the lagoon. There was one church on the island, and the monks in residence sing vespers at 7pm, and I wanted to hear it. Turns out, they were closing the church at 6 (15 minutes after we arrived), had already turned off all but a few lights, and there was no vespers. We did a quick walk around even though most of the church was too dark to see the light on the wall, I lit a quick candle, and we walked out as a grumpy guy was turning off the rest of the lights. We took the boat-bus back to the main island, had dinner (gnocchi with scallops and zucchini in a white wine sauce for me…yum) and called it a night.

Tomorrow we have to clear out of the apartment by 10 and take a train to Florence, where the adventure continues. I'd love to have a couple more days in Venice; I'm just figuring out how to manage it efficiently (don't walk, use the vaporetto (boat bus)). But I'm very excited for Michaelangelo, the Medicis, and everything else Florence has to offer. Ciao!