Day 6 – Innsbruck, Cortina, and Venice

9/16/2006 – Day 6 – Innsbruck, Cortina, and Venice

Leaving Garmisch and are now on our way to Innsbruck.  We again pass alpine meadows many have one or two of what I would call a line shack. 

As we ride pass alpine villages I can only think about the movie Heidi, although we are in Austria and not Switzerland.

Along the river in Innsbruck are see these beautiful row homes located in the historical Mariahilf District.  

We are here for just a little while and walking around town I find this horse troth.  In many of the villages in Germany and Austria we have seen many of these water troths reminiscent of days long past with Knights riding their horses about.  Still they are striking to see. 

This quarter of the Old Town, is now a pedestrian walkway where you can stroll through 800 years of history. With its narrow house-fronts, handsome doorways, oriel windows, buttressed medieval houses, and arcaded-façades Innsbruck brings many of the old movies to mind. 

In the background, along this pedestrian street, the magnificent Late Gothic oriel window, roofed with gilded copper tiles, was built in 1496 and served as a box from which the court watched civic festivities in the square below.  Now referred to as the Golden Roof it sits along this section of the pedestrian road.

Before leaving Innsbruck, we make a quick pass by the Olympic ski jump venue.  I have to admit, that is high.  Innsbruck hosted the winter Olympics twice the first time in 1964 and then again in 1976. 

As we travel through the Alps in Austria, you can see the ruggedness of the mountains.  Overcast, the clouds hanging over the mountains add a bit of drama to the scene.

I find that the interplay between the sharp mountains and the clouds very dramatic and I cannot stop taking pictures. 

Back on the bus, we cross into Italy and arrive in Cortina for lunch.  I couldn’t help myself when we saw this sculpture.  Carmen took a picture of me imitating the pose, just the wrong camera.

Situated in the heart of the southern portion of the Italian Alps, Cortina is a town situated in an alpine valley.  As you can this is a popular location in the winter time when the town’s population goes from about 7,000 to 40,000.  Cortina is also the start and end of the annual Dolomites Gold Cup Race. 

As with every village we have passed through, Cortina also has a predominant church.  This is Basilica Minore dei Santi Filippo e Giacomo, which is dedicated to the Apostles Philip and James, the patron saints of Cortina.  The Basilica was build between 1769 and 1775 and was built on the site where two churches previous existed.

Venturing inside the interior is as ornate as many others we have seen.  Check out the ceiling of this church, the chandeliers, the statues and the ornamentation behind the alter on the dais. 

In one of the side niches was another alter.  Not sure what this alter was used for, but first impression possible would be for baptisms,

We are on the road after our quick stop for lunch and soon pass another small village in this alpine valley.  Continuing our ride, we are still in part of the Italian Alps, but leaving and on our way to Venice.  You can see the village at the bottom of the mountain cliff.  Imagine waking up to this view every morning.

It is a little over a two-hour drive to Venice and by the time we get to our hotel is it getting late.  After checking into our room, we are back out and on the bus to a ride into Venice because are taking a boat ride to dinner.  We hop on a covered boat, so I am riding in the very back and hanging out in the open.  Starting our ride, we can see one of many bridges over the Venice canals.

The isn’t much to say about the next few pictures other than these are views of Venice from the boat.  We are heading to Piazza San Marco, or St Mark’s Square, where we will disembark from the boat, then trek to the restaurant.  Of course, we are in Venice, so it started to rain while we were on the boat.  Here are some of the pictures from during our boat ride.

 

Piazza San Marco, or St Mark’s Square is visually striking.  But in the rain, we can see where water is beginning to puddle.  I have read where when it rains for some time the Square floods.  

Turning the corner at one of the "streets" we are on I get this picture.  I do not even remember where we were.

After dinner, we are walking around, trying not to get lost in this maze or “streets”.  This street has tables outside for diners.  You can see how wet the area is and I think it might still have been drizzling. 

I get a picture of Carmen while she is hiding under an awning.  

St. Mark's Clock Tower.  

This is Palazzo Ducal (Doge’s Palace).  We'll learn more about the Palace tomorrow as we have tickets to go in.  We are on our way to meet the boat.

The boat to take us home is almost here.  Everyone is hiding under whatever cover they can find because of the drizzling.  I had to take this picture of the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore across San Marcos Basin, which is a part of the Venetian Lagoon.  It is on its own little island.

Also from St. Mark’s Square where we wait for the boat ride back to the bus, I get a picture of Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute or Saint Mary of Health.  It seems more impressive at night then it did earlier. 

The boat gets here, but not before the skies open up and it begins raining again, so no more pictures tonight just trying to stay dry.  Tomorrow we come back to Venice for a day trip and entry into Palazzo Ducal (Doge’s Palace).