Martin Travels: Venice - Second Full Day

We made it to the hotel breakfast today. There was one busy lady trying to cook, serve and clean up after about 12 tables with constant turnover. We finally were fed and on our way to find a laundromat. We had already been given directions to a non-existent place, and were given the same directions by a different desk clerk. We got further directions on the street (twice) and finally found a place. Not a self-serve laundromat, but a laundry service. They were happy to take our load and have it ready to pick up at 6 P.M. washed and folded – for a price. And then the rain started – late morning. We did some local shopping ducking in and out of stores and came back to the hotel to dry out. Then, we had lunch across the street – same place as the night before, under an awning at the edge of the Grand Canal and conducted a study of Venice boats. It being Monday, and back to work, there were construction boats, plumber boats, delivery boats, garbage boats, taxi boats, bus boats, limousine boats, ambulance boats, police boats (local and regional), baggage boats, shuttle boats, personal boats (regular and compact) Enough already! I will make up a boat collage for interested parties. We had noticed that on-land the delivery and pick-up people push dollies with goods along the walkways to and from the boats. BTW - lunch was good.
After lunch, Judie caught up on her email and I set out on a walking trip across the island city to pick up a book we had seen the day before at the Guggenheim, catch a few new sights and pick up the laundry. The sights: Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Fari, San Rocco Church, A Leonardo da Vinci Exhibit of replicas of his inventions. No time to enter these, which all had a small charge. Went past the Guggenheim Gallery, got the book, peeked in the Santa Maria della Salute Church – across from San Marco and was wow’d again, did a bit of shopping (secret) and headed back to pick up laundry and other needfuls. Judie and I had met a couple in costume promoting and selling tickets to a one-hour opera tribute by “Virtuosi di Vienza”. We decided that we should go. We took the Vaporetto (water bus) from near our hotel (train station) along the Grand Canal to San Marco Plaza. Our route took us under all three bridges that cross the Canal (See if you can name them – answers in pics). We disembarked with lots of new pictures from the water angle, bought concert tickets at the door and then found a restaurant nearby. The concert was very entertaining – a 4 piece stringed and piano chamber orchestra, a soprano and a tenor performed - in a former church (I believe) with great acoustics. We were treated to pieces from operas by Vivaldi, Puccini, Verdi and others. It was a great introduction for us. Maybe one day we’ll see an entire opera. We walked out into San Marco Square and enjoyed a bit of restaurant orchestra music along with the rest of the non-paying crowd. Some were dancing. The restaurant tables were empty. Still a bit of rain fell. We walked back to the hotel without getting lost and settled in. We leave for Rome by train just after noon tomorrow.