Italy 2, Germany 0 (Brodie 1, Pigeons 0)

We began today at the major tourist site in Venice – Piazza San Marco. While we were waiting in line to see the Basilica di San Marco, Brodie entertained us by catching pigeons. The Basilica was amazing – we were impressed by the Byzantine mosaics as well as by the history – legend has it that the body of St. Mark was smuggled from Alexandria to Venice in a barrel of pickled pork in the 800’s and now is here in this basilica.

The Palazza Ducale was right next to the Basilica and it was our next stop. We toured this palace which was home to the rulers of Venice and was the major government building – combining ornate senate halls with an armory and a dungeon. Next we took pictures in front of the church where Vivaldi was chorus master. Here he composed and played The Four Seasons and other masterpieces. We rounded out the afternoon by seeing the Byzantine and early Renaissance work at the Accademia and toured two more churches with awe-inspiring paintings and architecture. Near two of the churches is a gelato (ice cream but a little thicker) stand which we visited twice and wanted to visit a third time.

After an Italian dinner with two courses, we watched Italy and Germany in the semi-finale World Cup game. This was televised in a big square – we watched it with about 200 other people on five screens. The Italian victory, which was achieved in the last few minutes of double over-time, was jubilantly celebrated, but was not as outrageous as the French victory celebration we witnessed earlier in the week. If the French win tomorrow in their semi-final match, we hope to see Italy versus France in the championship while we are in Rome.